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Speaker 1: This is a studio both and production. Hey everyone, this summer,

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we are celebrating the ten year anniversary of my podcasting career.

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I can't believe it's been ten years. Over the next

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three months, I'll be sharing ten of the episodes that

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I feel best inspired, progressed, and or changed my life

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in podcasting, So the episodes that guided us to where

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we are now. And in each re sharing, you'll get

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brand new, behind the scenes information about what was happening

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in life, in my various investigations, and in the world

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that impacted these very important episodes. You'll learn how I

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started podcasting, how I started investigating Israel, Keys, some hilarious

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and terrifying stories from the road, and some really vulnerable

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and personal stories I've never shared publicly. You'll get to

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see and hopefully reflect on your own history. How so

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much of what has happened in my life and in

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each of the shows I've produced or participated in, has

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coalesced into and molded who I am and what the

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podcasts and investigations are today. And for our first episode,

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we'll start at the beginning, or at least a version

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of the beginning ten years ago, shortly after moving to Brooklyn,

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New York. From Seattle. I found myself at a crossroads.

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I'd spent the previous six years living a fairly fulfilling

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and successful life in Seattle. After spending most of my

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twenties bouncing around the country chasing various dreams, ideals, notions,

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and sometimes even guys because we're all really stupid in

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our twenties, I ended up in San Francisco, New Orleans, Portland, Cambodia,

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and back to San Francisco, before eventually moving to Seattle,

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a city I had never even been to, for what

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was at the time my dream job. I worked in

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branding and inspiration in fashion. I had various cloying titles

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like the Curator of Cool or inspiration Manager. I was

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essentially in charge of creating environments that would inspire the designers.

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In twenty eleven, I even took the design team to

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Nia Bay for a weekend to learn weaving techniques and

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tribal traditions from the Macaw, a year before the world

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would know who Israel Keys was. I ended up leaving

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the fashion industry after a two a m work crisis.

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The entire team was in a conference room. Someone was

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crying in a corner. Someone was screaming. People hadn't slept

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an eye and I thought all this for khaki pants.

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So after fashion wore me out, I eventually ended up

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at a nonprofit healthcare company, where I found myself thriving.

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I believed in what I was doing. By this point,

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I'd never even listened to a podcast, let alone thought

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it might one day be my most fulfilling and longest

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term career. I fell in love with Seattle, and even

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more so the surrounding areas I'd frequent, the Olympic Peninsula,

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the Snoqualmie River Valley, Scadget Valley. It was one of

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the most beautiful places I'd ever lived, and I was

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ready to finally settle down there in Washington State. And

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then I fell in a different kind of love. I

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met my partner, who had spent his entire life living

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in Washington State. As someone who'd only ever lived in

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one place for the most part, he wanted to try

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living somewhere else, a bigger city. And as someone who

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was two years into his apparel design career, that bigger

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city he wanted to go to was one I loathed,

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New York. So four years we debated where to live.

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As our relationship progressed, we debated whether to stay or go,

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whether there was some sort of compromise. As best we

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could try, there really wasn't one, but Andrew did eventually

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come up with an idea, an idea that I'd much

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later realize was actually a long con one I didn't

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think he was capable of. What if we bought a

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camper van, moved into it, and traveled the country until

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we ran out of money or found a place we

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both loved a few months later, we bought a forty

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connoline van from some hippies who communicated by making bird

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noises at one another. During our renovation of the van,

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we found secret and very strange love notes they'd written

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to each other and hidden throughout the interior. So found

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that they forgot to tell us that the van had

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been salvaged and it was going to be nearly impossible

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to ensure or resell at any given time in the future.

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In fact, all these years later, the van is hiding

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behind some trees in our backyard. Classy, I know. We

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took the van up to Port Townshend on the Olympic

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Peninsula to work on it, and we quickly learned that

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we don't thrive as a couple in construction environments. So

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Andrew worked on the van and I explored the Peninsula.

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By this time, it was twenty fifteen, and I was

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now keenly aware of and terrified and fascinated by Israel Keys.

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So I spent three months driving all over the peninsula,

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learning everything I could about this man and all the

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places he had been. It's where my obsession began. Andrew

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literally built a new life for us, and I literally

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supplanted myself in the life of Israel Keys, not knowing

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that I too was building a life for us. By

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May of twenty fifteen, we set off on our van

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life adventure, and I ended up accidentally spending the next

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six months traveling to the rest of the places Israel

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Keys had been. As we drove from Seattle to Cordelaine,

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I listened to my very first podcast. It was This

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American Life, and I was immediately enthralled. I'd obviously heard

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about podcasts, but my general understanding was that they were

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either weird trivia shows or just a bunch of straight

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white men telling each other exactly, or a combination of

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the two. But this, this was storytelling and it was

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inspiring and strangely healing. We spent six months, forty four states,

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four Canadian provinces, and a lifetime of lessons and experiences.

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On the road. We listened to one hundreds of hours

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of podcasts and Visibilia, Radio Lab, Generation, Why Serial, and

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so on. I went through a short term Serial fixation

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where I was convinced that if I listened to the

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entire series enough times, I, by myself with Excel, could

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solve the case. A friend of mine would even mock me, saying,

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you think you, a writer with a computer can find

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out stuff the FBI hasn't been able to, And then

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we both laughed at how stupid that sounded. We even

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spent the penultimate day of our trip in Baltimore as

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I forced Andrew to do drive time tests. And then

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in early November of twenty fifteen, we landed in New

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York and then ended up in New York, and I

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hated it there, even when I tried desperately to convince

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myself that I didn't. As it turns out, NYC is

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not great for CPTSD. I couldn't find work. Most of

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the nonprofit healthcare companies were based in Albany. It was

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winter and frigid out, and Andrew was already working at

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a small heritage apparel company, and soho, so I was

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alone and depressed and freezing. I had been working on

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a book about our trip, but as the trip got

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further and further away from me and New York felt

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more and more ever present, I felt less inspired. I

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had been daydreaming about this town in northern Michigan that

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we fell in love with while living on the road, Pataski.

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It was this charming lakeside village full of vibrant people,

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hip shops and restaurants, and an odd number of people

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in their twenties. Considering how remote and tiny the town was,

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I decided that I wanted to try to produce a

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This American Lifestyle pot cast episode about Potoski, and that

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if I was good at it and enjoyed it, maybe

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instead of writing a book about our adventure, I'd create

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a podcast about it, as I'm prone to do when

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I have an idea that I'm excited about and invested in.

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I didn't tell anyone what I was doing. I just

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started writing and reaching out to locals in Potoski. The

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story slowly came together and then evolved and came back together,

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as stories often do. It was twenty sixteen, and much

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to my eventual shock, Trump was about to get elected.

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America was as divisive as ever. The economy was suffocating,

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It was harder and harder for young people to actually

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make a life for themselves. It wasn't hand to mouth,

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especially in the big cities they once flocked to. And

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in Potoski, Michigan, I found an interesting convergence of all

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these factors. Young people were returning to the town that

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raised them, but bringing with them big ideas and culture,

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and for better or worse, depending on who you asked,

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the small and traditional Rockwellyan town was being infused with

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more urban and progressive ideas. And so that was the

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theme of my very first podcast episode, how do we

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blend often competing ideas of what we think is right?

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And that simple question became the basis for Our Americana,

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my first podcast series. Instead of being about our trip

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across the country, it became about community. How community is built, evolves, struggles, adapts, survives.

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What happens when students take over a school, who steps

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in when a town is without a police force, What

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happens when progress harms history? And how do you bring

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a divided village together. The answer to that question, it

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turns out, is a baby orca. So as we begin

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this retrospective into my ten years of podcasting, I thought

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it apt to start where my journey began, on the

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open road. In this twenty sixteen episode I produced for

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Our Americana about people like Andrew and I who quit

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their lives to see America. The episode was originally titled

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Van Life. But before we start, I am so goddamn

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excited to announce our next Trova trip. Think for a minute,

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imagine joining me Charlie from Crime Lines and a small

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group of studio boath and listeners to talk podcasting, Bravo, Israel, Keys,

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true crime, and life while I don't know, swimming with

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sea lions and turtles, meeting tortoises and penguins, and sipping

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cocktails on the equator in January. Yes, we are going

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to the Galapagos Islands from January eleventh to the seventeenth.

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We are island hopping in the Galapagos on this once

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in a lifetime vacation, and tickets go on sale two

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day and the first eight people get two hundred dollars off,

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So click on the link in the show notes and

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come spend your winter with me and some new like

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minded friends in the tropical Galapagos Islands. And if that's

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not your speed, we are hosting an anniversary party here

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in the Berkshires over the weekend of September twenty fifth,

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right before True Crime Bullshit returns with season eight. We'll

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be joined by a bunch of special guests for live shows,

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studio sessions, previews, behind the scenes, tours and talks, cocktail parties,

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and some of my favorite Berkshire based activities. So you'll

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get all the joys of podcasting, but also get to

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go out into this beautiful area and enjoy what I

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love most about it. For example, imagine going wine tasting

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in the Berkshires with Wine and Crime. Over the next

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few weeks, I'll be announcing a very stacked lineup of

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special guests along with the weekend's incredible agenda. Tickets will

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go on sale June twenty fifth, but are available for

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pre sale now on Patreon. And now let's get back

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to where it all started. A nineteen ninety two to

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forty ConA line van a very shitty thirty five dollars microphone,

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not a single editing ear, and a persistent chirping fire

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alarm in our crappy bedstye apartment. Enjoy the journey.

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Speaker 2: I knew that this trip was going to happen because

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I felt numb to my life, and I knew that

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I wanted to feel alive, and even if that was.

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Speaker 3: Hardship, I wanted to feel that.

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Speaker 2: And I have found my life filled with so many

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emotions that I've never that I never felt sitting.

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Speaker 3: At my desk.

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Speaker 2: I'm not good at sitting still, and I'm not good

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at sitting within a feeling that is uncomfortable. And I

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think that that is a huge issue for so many people,

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is that it's not that we numb ourselves, but we

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kind of numb ourselves with stimulation. When I was living

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in Seattle, I was constantly running around, you know, going

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to see all my friends and you see my family,

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and constantly being booked, you know, with the littlest things,

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and I was really kind of numbing myself to feeling,

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you know, something not good. And on this trip, I've

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really had to learn that there are going to be

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moments every day that I feel really alone, and I

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feel really sad that I'm not sharing this trip with someone,

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but that sitting within those moments kind of makes the

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rest of it all worth it. And I've really been

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able to find a sense of peace, and I'm still

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working on it, you know, like are still called my

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friends like crying every once in a while. But I

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think the biggest lesson I've learned is that there's a

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big difference between you know, feeling sad, being sad, and

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kind of giving into those emotions and just hopefully learning

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that just because it doesn't feel good doesn't mean that

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it's not okay.

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Speaker 4: Our Americana is a weekly podcast where we explore small

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towns across the country and get to know the people

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who call them home. Join us as we had some

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of our most unique and charming communities and talk to

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the locals about their lives, their histories, their relationships, and

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the stories that forever change them. Together, we'll discover how

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a community comes together and how it adapts and involves

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and faced with the unexpected, the controversial, the bizarre, and

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the life changing moments. I'm Josh Hallmark and this.

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Speaker 5: Is Our American.

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Speaker 2: I'm Oh my gosh, there's Yeah, my favorite spots the

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trip has been. There's a lot of different spots I

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like for a lot of different reasons. Like I really

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fell in love with Haynes, Alaska because that was kind

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of like the start of the trip and it was

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a great kind of launching point because I took the

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inside passage very from Bellingham up to know and then

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up to.

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Speaker 6: Haines, Mendocino, California. We really love It's a great little town.

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It's it's kind of touristic, definitely a little heart sat town. Yeah,

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we definitely felt at home like we could we could

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make a life there in Mendocino.

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Speaker 7: I have loved the missions of San Antonio.

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Speaker 4: Potoski, Michigan was our favorite town, and that's just below

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the Macano Bridge.

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Speaker 2: I loved McCarthy, Alaska, which is this small town where

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only I think like twenty people live year round, but

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it like just blossoms in the summer with seasonal workers.

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Speaker 6: But I'd say our two favorite states would probably be

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Oregon and Colorado, maybe the northern part of California.

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Speaker 4: Coast and New Mexico. Michigan and North Carolina best states.

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Speaker 2: So I think that in summary, Haynes, Alaska McCarthy, Alaska,

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the Yukon in general, and now the Ice Fields Highway, inc.

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Speaker 6: And Alberta, the whole, the whole, like Napa Valley, and

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then like the coast right there after the wine countries.

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It's awesome. I really like Steamboat Springs, Colorado too. Thought

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that was a pretty bad place.

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Speaker 8: Some valley I like some valley Idaho too, Yeah, catch

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them some valleys.

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Speaker 4: Yeah. Yeah. We spent I think five days in the Eup,

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which was gorgeous. Like if I had to, I would

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say that was probably the prettiest section of America that

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we saw. Exactly a year ago, Andrew and I were

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sipping a glass of wine in a winery on Lake

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Ontario in the Niagara Valley Escarpment, Ontario's gorgeous, gorgeous wine

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region that rivals Napa Valley. We were just about to

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start our last week of our van life traveling in

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the United States, so today I thought we'd check in

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with four other people who have just started their van

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life journeys, talk about how life on the road changes

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you the way you see people in America and even

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each other, and maybe inspire some of you to take

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the plunge and live a life on the road that

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will forever change you.

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Speaker 2: Currently, I am in vans in Alberta, sitting in my van,

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just parked outside of coffee shop using.

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Speaker 3: Some Wi Fi.

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Speaker 4: I miss those like weird little moments where you're kind

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of doing things that feel totally normal in the context

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of your life, but in the real world seem really creepy.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, like sleeping in front of like Walmart parking lots

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and in the parking lots of restaurants, and weird things.

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Speaker 4: Like about totally I remember like waking up in the

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middle of the night walking from the Walmart parking lot

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in to use the restroom and just being like, it's

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so weird that this is a normal thing.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's also super weird when you're in the car

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and you have all the blinds closed and there's just

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people like kind of walking past your car or commenting

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on it because I have my solar panel on the outside,

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so I hear a lot of people talking about my

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car as I'm like laying down trying to take a nap.

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Speaker 4: This is Alex. She is also from Seattle, and when

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we first talked, she had been living the van life

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for about four months, so.

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Speaker 2: I had after college, moved to New Zealand. I had

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gotten an internship in the South Pacific working in my field,

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and this whole trip of kind of moving to New

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Zealand kind of got formulated as I was living in

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the South Pacific. And when I was there, I lived

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out of a Ford Falcon, which I don't even think

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they make those anywhere else in the world, and I

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don't even think they make those in New Zealand anymore.

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And I was living out of the car there in

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a tent, and I was tenting every night, and it

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was probably one of the happiest times of my life,

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just living with absolutely minimal amenities, just pitching my tent

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every night. And I started really contemplating that this life

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was really possible, kind of living an alternative.

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Speaker 3: Lifestyle like this.

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Speaker 2: And I had seen a lot of bans in New

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Zealand that had these epic conversions, and I just.

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Speaker 3: Had such ban less than that.

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Speaker 2: That was kind of when I started thinking even more so, Okay,

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if I was.

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Speaker 3: To do this full time, I really wanted a van.

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Speaker 2: So I moved back to Seattle and got a job

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working full time for the government, and it was a

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really good job. It was just the dream job. I

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was working with Marine mammal Acoustics. I had been living

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in a city that I loved, that I knew, and

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all my friends were there. So it was just this

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really great kind of you know, I was living that

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twenty something dream, you know, I had the ultimate job,

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and kind of as time started to wear on and

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one year turned into two years, and then two years

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started turning into three years, I started getting this really

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intense kind of gnawing and my heart that was like,

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this isn't exactly what I want to do, you know.

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I don't want to sleep walk every day to my

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job to my work, you know. I was just sitting

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in traffic going to yoga to find balance, like running there.

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And it was just a life that I wasn't super

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happy with living. And so I knew for about a

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00:22:37,960 --> 00:22:41,359
year that I wanted to quit my job and move

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into a car.

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Speaker 3: And so I knew that kind of like in the.

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Speaker 2: Back of my mind, and as time kind of started

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to continue, I realized that I couldn't not listen to

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that that I was going to wake up with so

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many regrets if I didn't do this.

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Speaker 3: So once I got the van was.

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Speaker 2: Really and the whole trip started to kind of like

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come into my mind as being possible, and keeping in

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mind that I had lived out of a tent previously

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and found a lot of happiness and joy and fulfillment.

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Speaker 3: That it was possible for me.

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Speaker 2: So it took me about six months to tell my

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boss that I was leaving, and I knew for.

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Speaker 3: A little over a year, almost two years, I.

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Speaker 2: Want to say, kind of like in the depths of

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the night that I knew I wanted to leave.

359
00:23:26,200 --> 00:23:29,240
Speaker 3: So I guess that kind of long story, not short.

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Speaker 2: I knew that this trip was going to happen because

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I felt numb to my life, and I knew that

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I wanted to feel alive, and even if that was.

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Speaker 3: Hardship, I wanted to feel that.

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Speaker 2: And I have found my life filled with so many

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emotions that I've never that I never felt.

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Speaker 3: Fitting at my desk.

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Speaker 4: So did you have like a vision for like where

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you were going to end up when you left or

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were you just kind of taken it day by day?

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Speaker 2: So I knew I wanted to head north because I'm

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00:24:02,759 --> 00:24:05,599
romantic like that, you know, And so I was like,

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00:24:05,640 --> 00:24:07,480
I want to go north. I want to go to

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Alaska and Alaska has always, I think, seemed like a

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great destination for kind of the lost and the confused,

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and I think that that attracts a lot of people

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up there.

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Speaker 3: And so I knew that I wanted to go north.

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00:24:23,079 --> 00:24:25,119
Speaker 2: I knew I want to go to Alaska, and I

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00:24:25,160 --> 00:24:28,079
knew I wanted to come into Canada, and so that

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was kind of like where it just started.

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Speaker 3: And I was like, I kind of just want to do.

382
00:24:32,480 --> 00:24:37,000
Speaker 2: This big circle where I want to go Alaska, the Yukon,

383
00:24:37,599 --> 00:24:43,559
British Columbia, Calgary, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, and swing back

384
00:24:43,599 --> 00:24:46,319
up through California. And I thought that this trip was

385
00:24:46,319 --> 00:24:48,160
going to be about six months, and I'm about four

386
00:24:48,200 --> 00:24:50,640
months in and I barely made it into Alberta. So

387
00:24:50,839 --> 00:24:52,880
I don't think I'm going to finish or I don't

388
00:24:53,000 --> 00:24:54,240
think the trip is going to change.

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00:24:54,240 --> 00:24:55,640
Speaker 3: It's changed a lot, which is great.

390
00:24:56,240 --> 00:24:58,960
Speaker 2: And I got the best advice actually from a guy

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00:24:59,200 --> 00:25:01,039
who's also lived out of his car that I met

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00:25:01,079 --> 00:25:04,200
and volunteer park and he had been living on the

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00:25:04,240 --> 00:25:06,720
road for a few months as well, and he said,

394
00:25:07,640 --> 00:25:12,640
don't let the idea of your plan or your itinerary

395
00:25:12,880 --> 00:25:15,920
keep you from staying a place that you love, kind

396
00:25:15,920 --> 00:25:18,599
of like don't think like, Okay, I need to get

397
00:25:18,839 --> 00:25:21,519
to Denver or I have to get to banf Like

398
00:25:21,559 --> 00:25:23,839
if you're somewhere that you really love and you really

399
00:25:23,880 --> 00:25:26,440
love energy of the place you're in, like, don't rush

400
00:25:26,480 --> 00:25:28,039
away from it because you think you have to be

401
00:25:28,079 --> 00:25:29,279
somewhere else, because you don't.

402
00:25:29,960 --> 00:25:31,400
Speaker 3: That's like the joy of this trip.

403
00:25:31,480 --> 00:25:34,680
Speaker 2: So the trip has kind of melt molded more where

404
00:25:34,680 --> 00:25:36,359
I had an initial idea of what I wanted to

405
00:25:36,400 --> 00:25:39,680
look like, but now it's changed completely and I'm definitely

406
00:25:39,680 --> 00:25:41,400
spending a lot more time in Canada than I had

407
00:25:41,440 --> 00:25:44,000
initially planned on because Canada is amazing.

408
00:25:44,519 --> 00:25:47,200
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's so interesting. That was our biggest mistake, and

409
00:25:47,240 --> 00:25:49,480
it took us probably a good like month and a

410
00:25:49,519 --> 00:25:52,119
half to kind of get over that, like we don't

411
00:25:52,160 --> 00:25:55,480
need to rush through places like yeah, there's nowhere we

412
00:25:55,559 --> 00:25:57,680
need to be, because we kept being like, Okay, we've

413
00:25:57,680 --> 00:25:59,240
been here two days, we should go. We have all

414
00:25:59,240 --> 00:25:59,920
these other places.

415
00:26:00,160 --> 00:26:03,920
Speaker 2: See, yeah, and you get so much more when you

416
00:26:03,960 --> 00:26:06,920
stay in a place for a longer period of time.

417
00:26:07,000 --> 00:26:08,759
You know, you get such a better sense of the

418
00:26:08,880 --> 00:26:11,720
energy of the town. And sometimes it's for better or worse,

419
00:26:11,759 --> 00:26:13,079
you're gonna be stuck there. Like I was in and

420
00:26:13,079 --> 00:26:15,839
out of Anchorage a lot, and I was there a

421
00:26:15,880 --> 00:26:16,440
lot more than.

422
00:26:16,319 --> 00:26:17,200
Speaker 3: I almost wanted to be.

423
00:26:17,799 --> 00:26:19,240
Speaker 2: And now I know I don't really want to live

424
00:26:19,240 --> 00:26:21,680
in Achorage, not that there's anything wrong with it, but

425
00:26:22,200 --> 00:26:24,400
I just found out that that's not really a place

426
00:26:24,400 --> 00:26:25,720
that I want to say, And then I kind of

427
00:26:25,720 --> 00:26:28,720
had to rush out of other places that I really loved,

428
00:26:28,720 --> 00:26:31,039
and I kind of regret that that I didn't take

429
00:26:31,079 --> 00:26:34,839
more time in some smaller towns. I have been really

430
00:26:34,960 --> 00:26:38,680
lucky though that I haven't really had any super issues

431
00:26:38,799 --> 00:26:42,960
with safety, but I did recently, just like two nights ago,

432
00:26:43,000 --> 00:26:45,920
where was that I was outside of Jazzer somewhere and I

433
00:26:46,000 --> 00:26:49,839
pulled into this campground and I mean this was like

434
00:26:49,920 --> 00:26:52,279
not even a sketchy situation, but for some reason, I

435
00:26:52,359 --> 00:26:54,400
just like had to follow my gut. There was a

436
00:26:54,440 --> 00:26:57,480
guy that like came around and was like, I'm the

437
00:26:57,480 --> 00:27:01,279
firewood guy, and I'm like selling firewood to everyone, and

438
00:27:01,319 --> 00:27:03,920
I'm like, okay, I don't need firewood, and he's like,

439
00:27:04,000 --> 00:27:06,680
you really have the run of the camp to night

440
00:27:06,720 --> 00:27:08,279
because no one else was in this campground.

441
00:27:08,880 --> 00:27:10,200
Speaker 3: And I was like yeah, I do.

442
00:27:10,400 --> 00:27:12,160
Speaker 2: And he's like last night there was lots of people

443
00:27:12,359 --> 00:27:14,599
and he wasn't like it was a totally normal conversation,

444
00:27:14,680 --> 00:27:17,480
like there was no sketchy vibes. And I fell asleep

445
00:27:17,519 --> 00:27:19,200
pretty early that night, so I was super tired. And

446
00:27:19,240 --> 00:27:21,039
I woke up at like ten thirty at night, and

447
00:27:21,039 --> 00:27:23,400
it was pitch black darkout, which I hadn't been accustomed to,

448
00:27:23,440 --> 00:27:25,720
because like it never gets dark in the North. And

449
00:27:26,039 --> 00:27:28,599
I woke up and I was like, I need to move,

450
00:27:28,839 --> 00:27:32,039
like I am scared, like the camp site I was in,

451
00:27:32,200 --> 00:27:34,039
like if somebody would have blocked me and I wouldn't

452
00:27:34,039 --> 00:27:35,319
have been able to easily.

453
00:27:34,960 --> 00:27:36,359
Speaker 3: Move or move out, you know.

454
00:27:37,039 --> 00:27:39,559
Speaker 2: And I woke up and I just like listened to

455
00:27:39,559 --> 00:27:41,440
my gut and I moved and I found a great

456
00:27:41,440 --> 00:27:44,319
camp to another great spot, like by a different trailhead.

457
00:27:44,920 --> 00:27:47,200
And it was interesting because it was the first night

458
00:27:47,240 --> 00:27:48,519
that I really woke up and I was like, I

459
00:27:48,599 --> 00:27:53,000
have to listen to my voice and trust it because

460
00:27:53,000 --> 00:27:54,839
I think that like, if something were bad to happen,

461
00:27:54,880 --> 00:27:57,319
the only reason I didn't move my car was because

462
00:27:57,759 --> 00:28:02,599
of a societal expectation that I was, you know, being irrational,

463
00:28:03,000 --> 00:28:05,000
or that I was being kind of crazy and paranoid,

464
00:28:05,039 --> 00:28:07,680
and it's like, no, you can't put those labels on safety,

465
00:28:07,839 --> 00:28:09,319
especially when you're on the road.

466
00:28:09,279 --> 00:28:10,200
Speaker 4: Like totally.

467
00:28:10,759 --> 00:28:11,279
Speaker 3: Yeah.

468
00:28:11,480 --> 00:28:13,920
Speaker 4: Yeah. We were in Ashville, and I think it was

469
00:28:13,960 --> 00:28:19,160
like the only time where I felt actively threatened. And

470
00:28:19,200 --> 00:28:22,000
we had checked into our campsite and then drove around

471
00:28:22,039 --> 00:28:24,480
for the day and came back and we're watching a

472
00:28:24,519 --> 00:28:26,880
movie and all of a sudden, someone started punching the

473
00:28:26,960 --> 00:28:30,519
side of the van. Ah, so scary, yeah, And it

474
00:28:30,599 --> 00:28:32,680
was like we were in a pretty isolate We were

475
00:28:32,799 --> 00:28:34,599
in Ashville, but on the edge of town and it

476
00:28:34,640 --> 00:28:37,839
was pretty isolated, and my partner like went out and

477
00:28:37,880 --> 00:28:41,359
some guy who was wasted out of his mind in

478
00:28:41,440 --> 00:28:43,599
a truck was like, you took my spot and we

479
00:28:43,640 --> 00:28:45,839
were like, no, we reserved it, like we have the

480
00:28:45,880 --> 00:28:47,880
marker in our name. And he was like I'm gonna

481
00:28:47,880 --> 00:28:51,119
fucking kill you, and he was pussing and screaming, and

482
00:28:51,759 --> 00:28:54,200
like my partner had to go get I think his

483
00:28:54,319 --> 00:28:57,680
name was like Critter or animal. He was like the

484
00:28:57,720 --> 00:29:03,400
guy I know, and he kind of like I guess,

485
00:29:03,440 --> 00:29:06,200
de escalated it. And but all night I was just

486
00:29:06,240 --> 00:29:09,599
staring through like the little slot between where like our

487
00:29:09,640 --> 00:29:13,039
window shade and the top of the window were watching

488
00:29:13,039 --> 00:29:15,240
this man in his truck being like I've seen way

489
00:29:15,319 --> 00:29:18,240
too many episodes of Dateline. I know he's just in there,

490
00:29:18,279 --> 00:29:20,279
like drinking and getting pissed off and he's going to

491
00:29:20,319 --> 00:29:22,359
come out and like blow our brains out.

492
00:29:22,119 --> 00:29:26,759
Speaker 2: But yeah, didn't happen, Like God, yeah, that's still super terrifying.

493
00:29:27,000 --> 00:29:28,480
Speaker 3: I got woken up once with.

494
00:29:28,480 --> 00:29:32,440
Speaker 2: A friend in like Crescent City, Oregon, at like three

495
00:29:32,480 --> 00:29:34,920
in the morning by a cop, and for some reason

496
00:29:34,920 --> 00:29:37,000
that was like really, it was like the best situation.

497
00:29:37,119 --> 00:29:38,279
Speaker 3: Like the cop was super nice.

498
00:29:38,319 --> 00:29:41,319
Speaker 2: He was like, you just can't camp here, and I

499
00:29:41,400 --> 00:29:46,079
was like, this is parking, I'm not camping. And but

500
00:29:46,160 --> 00:29:48,640
for some reason, like getting woken up, like there's nothing

501
00:29:48,680 --> 00:29:53,079
more jarring than somebody like banging on your calm, you know.

502
00:29:53,039 --> 00:29:55,799
Speaker 3: Because it's like it feels like an invasion almost, you know.

503
00:29:56,039 --> 00:30:00,640
Speaker 4: Sure. What still surprises me all the time is we

504
00:30:01,720 --> 00:30:04,559
I guess I hate admitting this, but I guess I

505
00:30:04,640 --> 00:30:06,680
was a little cynical before I went on the trip,

506
00:30:07,680 --> 00:30:11,519
and my idea of people, like Americans but also just

507
00:30:11,599 --> 00:30:17,559
people is that they were assholes. Yeah, and we are

508
00:30:17,640 --> 00:30:20,799
constantly like we always look back and we're like, we

509
00:30:21,359 --> 00:30:24,759
only encountered like three assholes on the whole trip, and

510
00:30:24,799 --> 00:30:28,759
everyone else was wonderful and accepting and open. And I

511
00:30:28,759 --> 00:30:31,160
think that was like the greatest life lesson for me

512
00:30:31,319 --> 00:30:34,000
is that, like, if you give people a chance, generally

513
00:30:34,319 --> 00:30:38,359
they are wonderful, kind, open people.

514
00:30:38,079 --> 00:30:38,880
Speaker 3: And they'll surprise you.

515
00:30:38,920 --> 00:30:41,720
Speaker 2: And I think that's I was always amazed at how

516
00:30:41,799 --> 00:30:44,519
much help people were willing to give, like to strangers,

517
00:30:45,440 --> 00:30:47,359
and I found that a lot in my trip in

518
00:30:47,400 --> 00:30:50,519
New Zealand and on this trip too, just like people

519
00:30:50,559 --> 00:30:54,559
being super you know, kind just like helping me find

520
00:30:54,559 --> 00:30:56,599
like a place to park, or like telling me the

521
00:30:56,640 --> 00:30:59,599
best kind of like local spots and all that kind

522
00:30:59,599 --> 00:31:00,000
of stuff.

523
00:31:01,799 --> 00:31:03,279
Speaker 4: What's your favorite part.

524
00:31:04,279 --> 00:31:07,200
Speaker 3: My favorite part of the trip is.

525
00:31:08,720 --> 00:31:10,960
Speaker 2: These kinds of like moments when I'm driving and I

526
00:31:11,000 --> 00:31:12,920
come around a corner and I just see something that

527
00:31:13,160 --> 00:31:16,920
makes me slam on the brakes, and I think that

528
00:31:16,920 --> 00:31:19,039
that's like my favorite thing is like being like what

529
00:31:19,160 --> 00:31:23,200
is this? How could this so beautiful? And it's the

530
00:31:23,279 --> 00:31:26,359
surprise of it. I think that's my favorite part, the

531
00:31:26,440 --> 00:31:27,880
surprises that the road gives me.

532
00:31:28,240 --> 00:31:32,000
Speaker 4: Yeah, I always kind of liked when like something happened

533
00:31:32,000 --> 00:31:34,200
where we would like be stuck in a place like

534
00:31:34,240 --> 00:31:37,920
we had to sit through two tropical storms, oh man,

535
00:31:38,119 --> 00:31:39,880
and it seems so annoying because you're like, oh, I

536
00:31:39,880 --> 00:31:41,680
want to get to where I'm going. We were stuck

537
00:31:41,720 --> 00:31:44,799
in Tallahassee, Florida for a week, which is not a

538
00:31:44,799 --> 00:31:47,440
fun place to be stuck. Yeah, but it was so

539
00:31:47,559 --> 00:31:50,160
nice to just be like, like, there's nothing to do

540
00:31:50,200 --> 00:31:52,400
in Tallahassee, so we just hung out in the RV

541
00:31:52,559 --> 00:31:55,960
park and like relaxed and played cards and just kind

542
00:31:56,000 --> 00:31:58,440
of checked out, which was so lovely.

543
00:31:59,480 --> 00:32:00,640
Speaker 3: That sounds really nice.

544
00:32:00,720 --> 00:32:04,960
Speaker 2: I'm really bad sometimes that like sitting still with that,

545
00:32:05,279 --> 00:32:07,000
Like how I just like gave this whole like shpeel

546
00:32:07,039 --> 00:32:10,440
about like sitting with like solitude, and like then like

547
00:32:10,480 --> 00:32:12,839
there are the days that I'm like kind of not

548
00:32:13,000 --> 00:32:15,519
stuck with that, you know, like I'm into town like

549
00:32:15,599 --> 00:32:17,200
all day and I'm like i could just go sit

550
00:32:17,319 --> 00:32:20,160
with my book in the park, and I'm like, oh,

551
00:32:20,200 --> 00:32:21,920
I could go for a run, you know.

552
00:32:23,680 --> 00:32:27,359
Speaker 4: Readapting to life afterwards is really challenging because you're so

553
00:32:27,480 --> 00:32:30,680
used to moving all the time and everything's new all

554
00:32:30,720 --> 00:32:32,200
the time, and then all of a sudden you're like

555
00:32:32,279 --> 00:32:34,440
I'm stuck in this place and my life is the

556
00:32:34,480 --> 00:32:38,039
same every single day, and it's challenging.

557
00:32:39,039 --> 00:32:42,079
Speaker 2: Yeah, I have no idea what my kind of adaptation

558
00:32:43,119 --> 00:32:45,920
to being back in the real quote the real world,

559
00:32:46,119 --> 00:32:47,160
or like staying put.

560
00:32:47,000 --> 00:32:47,880
Speaker 3: For a long time will look.

561
00:32:47,960 --> 00:32:48,039
Speaker 9: Like.

562
00:32:48,079 --> 00:32:49,839
Speaker 3: I think it's going to be really challenging.

563
00:32:50,400 --> 00:32:52,240
Speaker 4: Are you going to go back to Seattle or.

564
00:32:53,559 --> 00:32:54,319
Speaker 3: I don't think so?

565
00:32:55,160 --> 00:32:59,119
Speaker 2: And I thought for a long time about that, like

566
00:32:59,240 --> 00:33:02,799
going back to Washington in general, but I've always defaulted

567
00:33:03,079 --> 00:33:06,720
back to Seattle in Washington because I'm really comfortable with it,

568
00:33:06,759 --> 00:33:09,000
and my family's there and I'm very close to my family,

569
00:33:09,519 --> 00:33:11,319
and so it's always just been kind of safe, you know.

570
00:33:11,359 --> 00:33:14,359
Speaker 3: After college, I was like, I'll just come back to Seattle.

571
00:33:14,400 --> 00:33:17,599
Speaker 2: And I kind of wanted to take moving back off

572
00:33:17,640 --> 00:33:21,200
the table because it kind of then opened up opened

573
00:33:21,279 --> 00:33:23,920
up more doors for me to see where I really

574
00:33:24,000 --> 00:33:26,880
want to be versus where it's comfortable for me to be.

575
00:33:27,880 --> 00:33:30,720
Speaker 3: And so I don't think I'll be back in Seattle,

576
00:33:30,759 --> 00:33:31,799
but you never know.

577
00:33:32,880 --> 00:33:35,319
Speaker 4: Yeah, we I mean we kind of had different ideas.

578
00:33:35,680 --> 00:33:38,160
My partner really wanted to move to New York afterwards

579
00:33:38,200 --> 00:33:42,680
and I did not, so like the I guess the

580
00:33:42,759 --> 00:33:45,319
surface thing was like maybe we'll find a town on

581
00:33:45,359 --> 00:33:46,920
the way and fall in love with it and we'll

582
00:33:46,960 --> 00:33:49,400
move there, and like that was such a fun way

583
00:33:49,440 --> 00:33:52,039
to experience the trip, Like every town you stop and

584
00:33:52,160 --> 00:33:53,640
could be a town that you lived in.

585
00:33:54,640 --> 00:33:57,440
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's like a million towns Zho that I want

586
00:33:57,440 --> 00:33:57,799
to move to.

587
00:33:57,880 --> 00:33:59,240
Speaker 3: So that's like now abouts my problem.

588
00:33:59,240 --> 00:34:00,559
Speaker 2: I'm like, I've want to really want to work in

589
00:34:00,759 --> 00:34:04,720
Seasonally and Haines, and then I want to move to Canada.

590
00:34:04,799 --> 00:34:07,279
So there's now so many places that I kind of

591
00:34:07,279 --> 00:34:10,599
want to move, So where actually end up will be interesting.

592
00:34:10,639 --> 00:34:12,440
Speaker 4: I think, are you just going to keep going until

593
00:34:12,440 --> 00:34:13,280
you run out of money?

594
00:34:14,840 --> 00:34:15,159
Speaker 3: Yeah?

595
00:34:15,199 --> 00:34:21,679
Speaker 2: Theoretically I think that I will start making decisions in.

596
00:34:20,599 --> 00:34:21,360
Speaker 3: The late fall.

597
00:34:22,679 --> 00:34:24,480
Speaker 2: Kind of Thanksgiving is when I'm kind of giving myself

598
00:34:24,480 --> 00:34:26,920
a deadline to kind of figure a few things out,

599
00:34:27,199 --> 00:34:30,280
because living in the van in the winter is really challenging.

600
00:34:30,920 --> 00:34:33,320
And this past winter I took a van on a

601
00:34:33,320 --> 00:34:37,760
bunch of ski trips and there was one weekend where

602
00:34:38,000 --> 00:34:40,079
I was just me and a friend. We're kind of

603
00:34:40,119 --> 00:34:43,280
stranded in a ski parking lot because like a blizzard

604
00:34:43,320 --> 00:34:45,159
was moving through and we couldn't get down the mountain

605
00:34:45,800 --> 00:34:48,519
and it was basically sleading on us the whole time.

606
00:34:48,599 --> 00:34:49,800
Speaker 3: So we were trying to dry.

607
00:34:49,599 --> 00:34:51,840
Speaker 2: Out all of our ski gear, like in the van

608
00:34:52,559 --> 00:34:55,039
in front of the heater, and we couldn't really pop

609
00:34:55,079 --> 00:34:57,320
the top because it was too cold if the top

610
00:34:57,400 --> 00:34:58,719
was popped, And.

611
00:34:58,599 --> 00:34:59,880
Speaker 3: So it was that.

612
00:35:00,000 --> 00:35:01,360
Speaker 2: It was kind of the moment where I was like, Okay,

613
00:35:01,400 --> 00:35:02,639
I don't know if I could live in this full

614
00:35:02,679 --> 00:35:05,480
time in the winter. So I guess the creature comfort

615
00:35:05,480 --> 00:35:08,559
I would miss there is a broom to dry out clothing.

616
00:35:09,320 --> 00:35:12,960
But so I think come late fall, I'll start figuring

617
00:35:13,000 --> 00:35:18,159
out maybe a place to migrate to for the winter time.

618
00:35:18,239 --> 00:35:20,840
And I have not given up on the idea of

619
00:35:20,880 --> 00:35:24,559
like moving to Australia and doing working holiday there, kind

620
00:35:24,559 --> 00:35:26,519
of like what I did in New Zealand, and that'd

621
00:35:26,559 --> 00:35:28,000
be the perfect time because it's somewhere down there in

622
00:35:28,000 --> 00:35:28,320
the winter.

623
00:35:28,440 --> 00:35:30,039
Speaker 3: So just keep the dream alive.

624
00:35:31,239 --> 00:35:33,920
Speaker 4: I mean, that's the thing. We realized I was running

625
00:35:33,920 --> 00:35:38,480
out of money, and Andrew was like, don't worry, you know,

626
00:35:38,960 --> 00:35:40,480
I just I want to stay on the road. But

627
00:35:40,519 --> 00:35:43,440
after Columbus Day, we've realized it's harder and harder to

628
00:35:43,480 --> 00:35:47,320
find RV parks to stay in. Oh yeah, and Walmart

629
00:35:47,360 --> 00:35:49,280
works great in the summer when you don't need to

630
00:35:49,280 --> 00:35:51,719
be plugged in, but like in the winter, you know,

631
00:35:51,840 --> 00:35:53,000
you need to be running a heater.

632
00:35:53,639 --> 00:35:56,199
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I have a solar panel, so I think

633
00:35:56,239 --> 00:35:58,000
in winter it would be even harder because there's not

634
00:35:58,000 --> 00:36:00,360
as much sun and it's not as bright. It could

635
00:36:00,400 --> 00:36:03,920
be really challenging. Yes, and RV parks are really expensive.

636
00:36:04,480 --> 00:36:05,199
Speaker 4: Oh totally.

637
00:36:05,760 --> 00:36:06,079
Speaker 3: Yeah.

638
00:36:06,119 --> 00:36:08,440
Speaker 2: I'm like shocked, like whenever I drive by them, and

639
00:36:08,480 --> 00:36:10,679
like some of them are really grow like you're just

640
00:36:10,719 --> 00:36:12,639
like right next to your neighbor and I'm like, man,

641
00:36:12,719 --> 00:36:14,519
you guys are charging a lot to basically be in

642
00:36:14,559 --> 00:36:15,639
a parking lot with an outlet.

643
00:36:16,440 --> 00:36:19,880
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's funny, like we the RV park thing, like

644
00:36:19,920 --> 00:36:22,440
there was such a huge variance, Like we stayed in Wance.

645
00:36:22,719 --> 00:36:26,159
Some that felt like resorts nice, Like there was one

646
00:36:26,159 --> 00:36:28,320
where they would do like mourning. It was in Arizona

647
00:36:28,320 --> 00:36:30,760
and every morning they would do like a rodeo in

648
00:36:30,840 --> 00:36:31,559
the parking lot.

649
00:36:33,000 --> 00:36:33,840
Speaker 3: It's so magical.

650
00:36:33,960 --> 00:36:37,280
Speaker 4: And then one in Michigan they had foam parties every night.

651
00:36:37,519 --> 00:36:40,480
So yeah, it was just like there was one that

652
00:36:40,559 --> 00:36:43,880
did karaoke, Like it's so gimmicky, but in the most

653
00:36:43,920 --> 00:36:44,639
delightful way.

654
00:36:45,400 --> 00:36:48,280
Speaker 2: I cannot imagine an art like the people like in general,

655
00:36:48,400 --> 00:36:49,920
the people that I've met that like live in our

656
00:36:50,039 --> 00:36:52,920
the RV parks, like the retirees, like I would just

657
00:36:53,000 --> 00:36:55,519
pay a hot dollar to see them at a foam party.

658
00:36:56,800 --> 00:36:59,159
Speaker 4: It's just I don't know, like r V culture. I

659
00:36:59,239 --> 00:37:00,960
love it because I felt like that was going to

660
00:37:00,960 --> 00:37:03,840
be scary too. But I think our V people put

661
00:37:03,880 --> 00:37:08,000
our V life ahead of all other differences, where they're like,

662
00:37:08,079 --> 00:37:10,599
you may be gay and democratic and we may hate that,

663
00:37:10,679 --> 00:37:13,599
but your RV people, so we love you anyway. Ah.

664
00:37:13,800 --> 00:37:18,800
Speaker 3: Just people loving people. That's amazing. Though I have not

665
00:37:19,159 --> 00:37:20,840
really gone to an RV park yet.

666
00:37:21,400 --> 00:37:24,039
Speaker 2: I've been really lucky with my solar panel being really

667
00:37:24,079 --> 00:37:27,239
efficient and being super sunny age in general, and kind

668
00:37:27,239 --> 00:37:29,840
of finding random places to plug in for a few hours.

669
00:37:30,320 --> 00:37:31,440
Speaker 3: But I have a feeling.

670
00:37:31,119 --> 00:37:32,639
Speaker 2: Eventually I go to the RV park and I'm going

671
00:37:32,719 --> 00:37:35,119
to email you about the phone party and rodeo one

672
00:37:35,159 --> 00:37:40,719
when that happens. Do the biggest question I get that

673
00:37:40,760 --> 00:37:44,480
I kind of want to touch on is the finances

674
00:37:44,639 --> 00:37:47,719
of the road. And I get emails and instagrams like

675
00:37:47,880 --> 00:37:51,639
all the time, kind of almost every other day, and

676
00:37:51,679 --> 00:37:53,400
the majority of the question is always you know, how

677
00:37:53,480 --> 00:37:56,559
much did you say? How do you make money? And

678
00:37:57,000 --> 00:37:59,039
it's hard for me to respond to each one of

679
00:37:59,039 --> 00:38:01,400
those because each question is pose a little bit differently.

680
00:38:01,719 --> 00:38:03,559
And I've just recently written something that I'm going to

681
00:38:03,639 --> 00:38:07,280
try to post on my blog about it. But I guess,

682
00:38:07,480 --> 00:38:09,320
like the thing that I would say for anybody that's

683
00:38:09,360 --> 00:38:12,480
contemplating like getting on the road, is that you can

684
00:38:12,599 --> 00:38:15,039
save so much more money than you think you can

685
00:38:15,480 --> 00:38:18,519
if you really put your mind to it. And when

686
00:38:18,559 --> 00:38:20,280
I was preparing to go on this trip, like I

687
00:38:20,360 --> 00:38:24,400
hustled for a solid year, you know, I was picking

688
00:38:24,480 --> 00:38:27,719
up extra yoga classes to teach. I was selling stuff

689
00:38:27,719 --> 00:38:30,519
on Craigslist, like everything I owned. I was like flipping

690
00:38:31,079 --> 00:38:36,199
things on Craigslist. And you can do it with less

691
00:38:36,239 --> 00:38:38,880
money than I think you think you need, you know,

692
00:38:39,000 --> 00:38:42,320
and if you're willing to live kind of not a

693
00:38:43,000 --> 00:38:44,599
I don't want to say a poor lifestyle, but if

694
00:38:44,599 --> 00:38:48,320
you're willing to kind of buy your food on like

695
00:38:48,719 --> 00:38:53,280
the made to clear stuff and you are really vigilant

696
00:38:53,280 --> 00:38:56,280
about going to you know, fruit stands and stuff like that,

697
00:38:56,360 --> 00:38:59,719
you know you can really stretch your budget by a lot,

698
00:39:00,679 --> 00:39:02,360
and then there will come the day when you have

699
00:39:02,480 --> 00:39:05,480
to pick up an odd job here there, or just

700
00:39:05,519 --> 00:39:07,559
do like a like a work exchange where you just

701
00:39:07,599 --> 00:39:09,599
don't spend any money for a few weeks.

702
00:39:10,079 --> 00:39:13,079
Speaker 4: Yeah, I like I was a little irresponsible. I cashed

703
00:39:13,079 --> 00:39:16,800
in my four one k a snap, which honestly I

704
00:39:16,840 --> 00:39:18,960
don't I don't regret it now and I don't think

705
00:39:19,000 --> 00:39:21,880
I'll ever regret it. It was such a good experience

706
00:39:21,920 --> 00:39:23,880
that it's worth whatever hell im I have to pay

707
00:39:23,920 --> 00:39:24,960
later on in life.

708
00:39:25,400 --> 00:39:27,679
Speaker 2: Yeah, and your life and your life so much richer

709
00:39:27,719 --> 00:39:29,320
now and so many other ways totally.

710
00:39:29,440 --> 00:39:32,360
Speaker 4: And like we were on the road just shy of

711
00:39:32,480 --> 00:39:36,000
six months and I had had ten thousand dollars, but

712
00:39:36,199 --> 00:39:40,280
we were doing it like a mid budget way, Like

713
00:39:40,320 --> 00:39:42,360
we were staying in our v parks pretty much every

714
00:39:42,400 --> 00:39:44,199
single night. There were a few times where we were like,

715
00:39:44,280 --> 00:39:46,239
let's get a hotel for the weekend, and we were

716
00:39:46,239 --> 00:39:49,239
doing cities, so we were like paying for museums and

717
00:39:49,280 --> 00:39:52,880
eating out and yeah. So yeah, I think like people

718
00:39:53,400 --> 00:39:55,880
would be shocked at how cheap it actually is to

719
00:39:55,920 --> 00:39:57,840
live that life, especially the way you're doing it.

720
00:39:58,440 --> 00:40:00,719
Speaker 2: Yeah, except for when my friends comm and it turns

721
00:40:00,760 --> 00:40:03,639
and immediately into a treat yourself weak and I'm like

722
00:40:03,760 --> 00:40:05,840
cocktails totally.

723
00:40:05,880 --> 00:40:09,320
Speaker 4: You knew days. We I am big on birthdays and

724
00:40:09,360 --> 00:40:12,840
we spent mine in Key West, and we spent so

725
00:40:12,920 --> 00:40:15,960
much money. It was so nice to feel like you

726
00:40:16,000 --> 00:40:17,400
were living a normal life again.

727
00:40:17,920 --> 00:40:47,280
Speaker 10: Yeah, Fiesta, I was working for Apple full time, and I.

728
00:40:47,199 --> 00:40:51,679
Speaker 11: Was working at a colonoscopy center like a doctor's office,

729
00:40:52,360 --> 00:40:55,760
and then I taught yoga, and.

730
00:40:57,440 --> 00:40:58,280
Speaker 5: Yeah, so were.

731
00:40:58,440 --> 00:41:02,400
Speaker 6: We were both working full time, so the better part

732
00:41:02,400 --> 00:41:05,400
of our weeks were in days were spent at work

733
00:41:05,440 --> 00:41:08,559
instead of at home or with each other or outdoors.

734
00:41:09,639 --> 00:41:13,480
Speaker 11: We lived in Jace's parents' basement. They have like a

735
00:41:13,519 --> 00:41:16,079
little apartment, so we lived there.

736
00:41:16,760 --> 00:41:20,719
Speaker 6: Yeah, just living a pretty normal life of work every

737
00:41:20,800 --> 00:41:23,360
day and dinner at night and going to sleep.

738
00:41:24,559 --> 00:41:26,800
Speaker 4: This is Jas and his wife Giddy. They had been

739
00:41:26,800 --> 00:41:28,920
on the road for about six months when we first

740
00:41:28,920 --> 00:41:31,400
started talking. I was really eager to talk to them

741
00:41:31,400 --> 00:41:34,360
about how van life had impacted their relationship.

742
00:41:35,239 --> 00:41:38,519
Speaker 6: So we had both actually talked about traveling full time,

743
00:41:38,599 --> 00:41:41,920
kind of hitchhiking style, traveling throughout different countries.

744
00:41:42,239 --> 00:41:45,920
Speaker 11: We were planning on actually doing a backpacking trip in

745
00:41:45,960 --> 00:41:47,679
Europe was our original plan.

746
00:41:48,000 --> 00:41:50,880
Speaker 6: Yeah, and then we were looking at vans kind of

747
00:41:50,920 --> 00:41:53,119
as like it's a thing we've wanted to do off

748
00:41:53,159 --> 00:41:55,519
and on for years since we were both like teenagers.

749
00:41:55,880 --> 00:41:58,719
Speaker 5: So we would kind of check, you know, Craigslist.

750
00:41:58,800 --> 00:42:02,079
Speaker 6: Eve kind of used listings for a van that we

751
00:42:02,119 --> 00:42:05,039
potentially could build out, but we really had our eyes

752
00:42:05,079 --> 00:42:06,480
set on backpack.

753
00:42:06,039 --> 00:42:09,360
Speaker 5: In Europe for a bit, and then we.

754
00:42:09,239 --> 00:42:13,519
Speaker 6: Stumbled upon stumbled upon a van for sale and decided

755
00:42:13,559 --> 00:42:15,639
to pull the trigger and go for it and convert

756
00:42:15,679 --> 00:42:16,280
it and live in it.

757
00:42:17,760 --> 00:42:19,760
Speaker 4: So did you have kind of a path or did

758
00:42:19,800 --> 00:42:21,400
you just decide you were going to hit the road

759
00:42:21,400 --> 00:42:22,239
and see what happened.

760
00:42:23,280 --> 00:42:26,599
Speaker 6: Well, originally, when we bought the van and started converting it,

761
00:42:26,719 --> 00:42:29,320
we decided that we were going to drive down to

762
00:42:29,519 --> 00:42:33,480
Argentina and drive through like all Central and South America.

763
00:42:33,519 --> 00:42:37,400
But our businesses had both picked up, especially Giddeya's business.

764
00:42:37,760 --> 00:42:40,400
Speaker 5: She does handmade jewelry and it.

765
00:42:40,840 --> 00:42:44,920
Speaker 6: Had picked up and become quite popular, and we shipped

766
00:42:44,920 --> 00:42:47,280
from the United States and we ship supplies to us

767
00:42:47,320 --> 00:42:49,880
as well, and so we decided that for now at

768
00:42:49,960 --> 00:42:52,280
least we're going to stay in the States, and so

769
00:42:52,320 --> 00:42:54,679
we made a plan to drive up to Alaska and

770
00:42:54,760 --> 00:42:57,679
back instead of Argentina and back. That way we're able

771
00:42:57,679 --> 00:43:00,960
to continue running our online business is with shipping and

772
00:43:01,039 --> 00:43:09,199
receiving in the States. We left on Easter Sunday of

773
00:43:09,239 --> 00:43:12,159
this year, so I think that was March twenty seventh.

774
00:43:12,639 --> 00:43:14,960
In that amount of time, I think that's five months

775
00:43:14,960 --> 00:43:23,920
we've been Arizona, and then Utah, Nevada, California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Alberta,

776
00:43:24,000 --> 00:43:28,400
British Columbia, Yukon, Alaska, and then we went through on

777
00:43:28,440 --> 00:43:30,039
the way back, we went through all those same and

778
00:43:30,079 --> 00:43:32,559
then Montana and Colorado.

779
00:43:32,679 --> 00:43:36,480
Speaker 4: Now, I think the thing we were most afraid of

780
00:43:36,840 --> 00:43:39,000
is what it was going to be like living in

781
00:43:39,039 --> 00:43:41,840
a van with your significant other for a long time.

782
00:43:42,039 --> 00:43:45,639
I'm like not having a place to escape too. How

783
00:43:45,679 --> 00:43:47,800
has it been on your relationship if you don't mind

784
00:43:47,800 --> 00:43:48,480
me asking.

785
00:43:49,360 --> 00:43:51,039
Speaker 5: There's there's been good and bad.

786
00:43:51,159 --> 00:43:54,440
Speaker 6: I mean, like any living situation, there's great days, there's

787
00:43:54,480 --> 00:43:58,320
bad days, but overall it's actually been awesome.

788
00:43:58,599 --> 00:43:58,880
Speaker 4: Yeah.

789
00:43:59,480 --> 00:44:02,679
Speaker 6: So when we were the previous situation we described living

790
00:44:02,760 --> 00:44:05,800
in my parents' basement apartment we were renting from them.

791
00:44:06,280 --> 00:44:07,880
It was a basement, so there wasn't a lot of

792
00:44:07,960 --> 00:44:10,199
natural light, and we were working all the time, and

793
00:44:10,239 --> 00:44:13,159
we're just kind of stressed, and so we actually we

794
00:44:13,239 --> 00:44:16,400
had a lot harder time getting along than before moving

795
00:44:16,400 --> 00:44:17,800
into the van, wouldn't you say.

796
00:44:17,760 --> 00:44:21,039
Speaker 11: Yeah, we didn't like to spend much time together, to

797
00:44:21,119 --> 00:44:22,880
be completely.

798
00:44:22,360 --> 00:44:25,719
Speaker 6: Honest, Yeah, yeah, we argued quite a bit when we

799
00:44:25,719 --> 00:44:27,480
spend time together before and.

800
00:44:28,280 --> 00:44:29,480
Speaker 5: After moving into the van.

801
00:44:29,599 --> 00:44:34,599
Speaker 6: It one hundred percent strengthened our marriage, our relationship. I mean,

802
00:44:34,599 --> 00:44:37,239
there's definitely times you don't want to be five feet

803
00:44:37,280 --> 00:44:39,840
from each other, and you have those trying moments. But

804
00:44:40,320 --> 00:44:42,599
I think we know each other a lot more than

805
00:44:42,639 --> 00:44:44,800
we ever could. I mean, in the short amount of

806
00:44:44,800 --> 00:44:47,159
time we've been living in the van, I'd say it's

807
00:44:47,159 --> 00:44:50,440
probably the equivalent of several years in our normal at

808
00:44:50,480 --> 00:44:53,159
home whatever relationship with ye how it would have been.

809
00:44:53,519 --> 00:44:55,440
We know each other a lot more, and it's definitely

810
00:44:55,440 --> 00:44:56,559
strengthened our relationship.

811
00:44:56,599 --> 00:44:59,280
Speaker 4: Yeah, we were the same. We would have just these

812
00:44:59,280 --> 00:45:03,440
really visions fights all the time, and then living in

813
00:45:03,480 --> 00:45:05,920
the van, you can't run away from each other. You

814
00:45:06,039 --> 00:45:08,039
have to work it out because you're stuck with each other.

815
00:45:09,199 --> 00:45:12,000
And I think also like it teaches you to communicate better.

816
00:45:12,679 --> 00:45:13,199
Speaker 8: Definitely.

817
00:45:13,280 --> 00:45:17,440
Speaker 6: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, you can't just slam the sliding doors,

818
00:45:17,840 --> 00:45:18,760
sit out in the rain.

819
00:45:18,880 --> 00:45:22,199
Speaker 5: You know, you got to hash it out, and.

820
00:45:22,079 --> 00:45:24,559
Speaker 6: It doesn't last as long if you do have an argument,

821
00:45:24,639 --> 00:45:26,199
because you're right in front.

822
00:45:26,000 --> 00:45:26,440
Speaker 5: Of each other.

823
00:45:27,639 --> 00:45:30,760
Speaker 4: Well, and I think also the little things that it's

824
00:45:30,760 --> 00:45:33,199
so easy to get caught up in don't matter, because

825
00:45:33,239 --> 00:45:36,280
you're like, I'm seeing the world and every day is

826
00:45:36,320 --> 00:45:38,639
a new day. And I don't know, I think you

827
00:45:38,719 --> 00:45:41,840
just take you take life a little more seriously, or

828
00:45:41,880 --> 00:45:43,320
maybe you take it less seriously.

829
00:45:43,840 --> 00:45:45,159
Speaker 5: Yeah, it's almost a combination.

830
00:45:45,360 --> 00:45:50,920
Speaker 8: Yeah.

831
00:45:50,960 --> 00:45:53,800
Speaker 6: Well, we set out without a without a plan, so

832
00:45:53,880 --> 00:45:59,199
we kind of had indefinite Giddy is actually pregnant with

833
00:45:59,320 --> 00:46:02,559
a baby that we're giving birth to and about two

834
00:46:02,599 --> 00:46:06,159
and a half months, and so we'll be taking a

835
00:46:06,159 --> 00:46:09,440
break from banlife for a couple of months during that time,

836
00:46:09,920 --> 00:46:13,360
and then we plan on at least setting out again afterwards.

837
00:46:13,519 --> 00:46:15,880
Speaker 5: What do you think do you think will keep going?

838
00:46:16,039 --> 00:46:16,400
Speaker 8: Yeah?

839
00:46:16,480 --> 00:46:19,119
Speaker 11: Yeah, when you're when you're already doing it, I don't know,

840
00:46:19,159 --> 00:46:22,280
you just don't. We can't imagine living any other way

841
00:46:22,280 --> 00:46:24,880
because there's just so much freedom and I don't know,

842
00:46:24,920 --> 00:46:28,039
so I don't think of living any other way, Like,

843
00:46:28,119 --> 00:46:29,000
I don't see different.

844
00:46:29,599 --> 00:46:31,840
Speaker 8: I mean, we obviously I don't know. Someday maybe we

845
00:46:31,960 --> 00:46:34,280
might live in the house, but I don't know when that.

846
00:46:34,320 --> 00:46:35,280
Speaker 3: We don't know when that will be.

847
00:46:35,960 --> 00:46:37,679
Speaker 6: Yeah, that could be in a few months, it could

848
00:46:37,760 --> 00:46:40,559
be ten years from now. They're just kind of kind

849
00:46:40,559 --> 00:46:42,119
of feeling it out. I think for now, we're happy

850
00:46:42,159 --> 00:46:44,920
where we are and want to keep continuing.

851
00:46:44,440 --> 00:46:44,920
Speaker 5: On with it.

852
00:46:46,719 --> 00:46:49,280
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'll say, because we did it for six months,

853
00:46:49,880 --> 00:46:52,159
and I was really surprised how hard it was to

854
00:46:52,280 --> 00:46:54,480
adapt back to normal life afterwards.

855
00:46:54,880 --> 00:46:55,199
Speaker 5: Really.

856
00:46:55,440 --> 00:46:58,039
Speaker 4: Yeah, I was really depressed for probably like two or

857
00:46:58,039 --> 00:47:03,039
three months after man. Yeah, like it just there's something

858
00:47:03,079 --> 00:47:07,840
about like when you escape all the like mundane social

859
00:47:07,920 --> 00:47:12,360
constructs of normal life, it's really hard to get back

860
00:47:12,400 --> 00:47:14,159
into them because you see them from a whole new

861
00:47:14,199 --> 00:47:17,079
perspective where you're like, I don't have to go to

862
00:47:17,119 --> 00:47:21,760
an office and I don't have to do these things. Yeah,

863
00:47:21,760 --> 00:47:23,679
it was really hard. And we're in New York now,

864
00:47:23,679 --> 00:47:25,480
which I think is also a lot harder because you're

865
00:47:25,480 --> 00:47:28,800
so used to like the quiet, and I don't know,

866
00:47:28,920 --> 00:47:31,280
seeing new stuff every day. It was a challenge.

867
00:47:31,920 --> 00:47:35,599
Speaker 6: Yeah, definitely, I mean you visit a lot of like

868
00:47:35,679 --> 00:47:38,480
you visit big places as you travel, but we prefer

869
00:47:38,559 --> 00:47:41,239
to stay in smaller areas. Like right now, we're in

870
00:47:41,280 --> 00:47:43,639
Denver and we've been here a day, but we just

871
00:47:43,639 --> 00:47:45,400
got out of the mountains and a couple of small

872
00:47:45,440 --> 00:47:48,800
towns before that, and I think we we thought we

873
00:47:48,800 --> 00:47:51,119
were city people before, and we definitely like some of

874
00:47:51,159 --> 00:47:53,639
the comforts of the city, but I don't know, I

875
00:47:53,639 --> 00:47:56,199
don't know if we could live in the city ever again.

876
00:47:56,880 --> 00:47:59,239
Speaker 5: Yeah, it's cool to see that there's kind of there's

877
00:47:59,239 --> 00:47:59,800
same people.

878
00:48:00,400 --> 00:48:03,760
Speaker 6: I mean, there's nice people, there's rude people, but we're

879
00:48:03,840 --> 00:48:06,480
kind of blown away just like the generosity and the

880
00:48:06,599 --> 00:48:09,239
kindness of everyone that we meet. And it's just cool

881
00:48:09,280 --> 00:48:11,679
to see that no matter you know, city or town

882
00:48:11,960 --> 00:48:15,079
or campground or whatever it may be, no matter where

883
00:48:15,119 --> 00:48:18,079
you are and which stay or Canada or wherever we go,

884
00:48:18,239 --> 00:48:19,440
we've just run.

885
00:48:19,320 --> 00:48:20,400
Speaker 5: Into the nicest people.

886
00:48:20,639 --> 00:48:24,400
Speaker 6: Yeah, it's been awesome to just be surrounded by positive,

887
00:48:24,719 --> 00:48:25,639
like minded people.

888
00:48:26,400 --> 00:48:29,119
Speaker 11: It's crazy too because like a lot of them have

889
00:48:29,199 --> 00:48:32,679
also been like old people that are like retired, which

890
00:48:33,119 --> 00:48:35,679
I could never I've never felt like I could ever

891
00:48:35,719 --> 00:48:37,840
relate to them because I'm like, oh, they they have

892
00:48:37,960 --> 00:48:39,800
like that I don't know, the.

893
00:48:39,679 --> 00:48:41,320
Speaker 5: Very life that they've already lived.

894
00:48:41,400 --> 00:48:44,559
Speaker 11: Yeah, and also like their ideas to me, like they

895
00:48:44,559 --> 00:48:47,599
were always just very like closed minded and stuff. But

896
00:48:47,679 --> 00:48:50,360
like after you meet all these different people and they're

897
00:48:50,360 --> 00:48:53,800
all like super open minded, super nice.

898
00:48:53,840 --> 00:48:56,440
Speaker 6: And a lot of our new friends are actually retired

899
00:48:57,280 --> 00:49:01,079
travelers invite us to play bingo at them and wake

900
00:49:01,199 --> 00:49:03,519
up with the sun and sit there on the beach.

901
00:49:04,400 --> 00:49:09,519
It's awesome. Yeah, we run into quite a few. I mean,

902
00:49:09,559 --> 00:49:11,719
there's definitely a lot of young people doing what we're doing.

903
00:49:12,159 --> 00:49:14,559
But in the more popular areas, like all the areas

904
00:49:14,559 --> 00:49:18,360
we visited in Alaska that weren't you know, we definitely

905
00:49:18,360 --> 00:49:20,320
had some solitude where we're the only people, but.

906
00:49:20,360 --> 00:49:23,400
Speaker 5: In the more populated areas it was us.

907
00:49:23,480 --> 00:49:27,199
Speaker 6: And then the demographic was quite a bit older, and

908
00:49:27,760 --> 00:49:29,960
we have quite a bit of a good number of

909
00:49:29,960 --> 00:49:35,360
older friends now that we have like minded agendas and lifestyles,

910
00:49:35,400 --> 00:49:35,639
you know.

911
00:49:37,039 --> 00:49:41,199
Speaker 4: Yeah, there's this strange camaraderie. Like I remember being Incus

912
00:49:41,239 --> 00:49:44,519
Saint Marie and I was having a glass of wine

913
00:49:44,519 --> 00:49:46,840
and we were in an RV park and like I

914
00:49:46,920 --> 00:49:49,119
just started chatting with the sky next to me. It

915
00:49:49,199 --> 00:49:51,800
was like seventy five and had been in the military

916
00:49:51,920 --> 00:49:54,920
and was from like rural Ohio. And then he was

917
00:49:54,960 --> 00:49:56,760
showing me as trailer and I was like, this is

918
00:49:56,840 --> 00:50:00,239
so surreal that I'm like buddies with this dude, just

919
00:50:00,280 --> 00:50:02,639
because we both travel in our vas together.

920
00:50:03,559 --> 00:50:07,280
Speaker 6: Yeah, exactly, that's common ground for sure. There was a

921
00:50:07,320 --> 00:50:10,760
moment in Alaska. There was a couple that we met

922
00:50:10,800 --> 00:50:12,480
there and they were I think he said he was

923
00:50:12,519 --> 00:50:15,519
eighty one. I didn't catch how old she was, but

924
00:50:15,559 --> 00:50:18,320
they were in their RV, you know, beach camping on

925
00:50:18,400 --> 00:50:22,599
this near Homer, Alaska, out on the spit, and we

926
00:50:22,599 --> 00:50:24,639
spent probably like two or three days with them. But

927
00:50:25,039 --> 00:50:27,599
we would in the mornings, we'd bird watch with them

928
00:50:27,679 --> 00:50:30,199
with their high powered binoculars.

929
00:50:29,599 --> 00:50:33,119
Speaker 5: They were very proud of. We'd get tips on how

930
00:50:33,159 --> 00:50:35,760
to drive in the sand and on lie.

931
00:50:36,239 --> 00:50:40,440
Speaker 6: Yeah, tons of life advice and it was much appreciated.

932
00:50:40,480 --> 00:50:43,239
A lot of it was pretty funny and kind of laughable,

933
00:50:43,280 --> 00:50:45,880
but most of it was actually really good advice. And

934
00:50:45,960 --> 00:50:49,920
I actually really respected the man for investing his time

935
00:50:49,920 --> 00:50:51,559
into us young folks.

936
00:50:51,159 --> 00:50:53,599
Speaker 5: You know, to teach us what he had learned. And yeah, he.

937
00:50:53,639 --> 00:50:56,280
Speaker 11: Was so full, he was so happy and always just

938
00:50:56,320 --> 00:50:59,639
like joking around you. So it just made you appreciate everything,

939
00:51:00,280 --> 00:51:03,639
like there's something funny and joyful in everything, because it

940
00:51:03,679 --> 00:51:06,280
was all day, like every day he was just laughing

941
00:51:06,360 --> 00:51:09,719
and making jokes and he was just a happy.

942
00:51:09,440 --> 00:51:12,719
Speaker 6: Person, happiest person we've ever met. Yeah, it was cool.

943
00:51:12,840 --> 00:51:15,119
It was really cool to see that because I don't know,

944
00:51:15,159 --> 00:51:18,519
I've always kind of as I've been aging. I guess

945
00:51:18,559 --> 00:51:20,840
you could say I'm definitely still young, but I kind

946
00:51:20,880 --> 00:51:23,639
of don't want to get old, and I've never really

947
00:51:23,920 --> 00:51:26,400
had a reason other than like physically I won't be

948
00:51:26,440 --> 00:51:27,440
able to do the things that.

949
00:51:27,360 --> 00:51:28,159
Speaker 5: I can now.

950
00:51:28,199 --> 00:51:30,760
Speaker 6: But I mean that guy he was pulling a dirt

951
00:51:30,760 --> 00:51:33,320
bike behind his RV and he was eighty one years old,

952
00:51:33,360 --> 00:51:34,280
And that guy gave.

953
00:51:34,119 --> 00:51:38,199
Speaker 4: Me, hope, What was some of the advice I gave you?

954
00:51:38,719 --> 00:51:42,159
Speaker 6: Most of it was relationship advice about how to treat

955
00:51:42,159 --> 00:51:45,840
each other with respect and kindness. And you know, arguing

956
00:51:45,920 --> 00:51:47,679
is never worth it. Most of the time. When you

957
00:51:47,719 --> 00:51:50,800
start arguing, you forget why you even started, and it

958
00:51:50,840 --> 00:51:51,639
just continues.

959
00:51:52,599 --> 00:51:55,519
Speaker 8: It was making decisions together.

960
00:51:55,320 --> 00:51:58,280
Speaker 6: Always, and yeah, not going behind each other's backs to

961
00:51:58,320 --> 00:52:02,239
make decisions. And yeah, just just working as a team,

962
00:52:02,360 --> 00:52:04,800
as a as a pair, like in everything we do.

963
00:52:05,280 --> 00:52:08,239
And it was interesting because I think Alaska is kind

964
00:52:08,280 --> 00:52:11,920
of our our realization point as well, since we set

965
00:52:11,960 --> 00:52:14,880
out in the van. Like to us said in the beginning,

966
00:52:14,920 --> 00:52:16,719
it was kind of a trip, like we're on it,

967
00:52:16,840 --> 00:52:18,639
we're on a trip. We're on a big road trip.

968
00:52:18,719 --> 00:52:21,360
And in Alaska it was a few days after meeting

969
00:52:21,360 --> 00:52:24,239
that man. Actually we were in another area. We just

970
00:52:24,280 --> 00:52:27,199
had like a night where you know, Giddy was drawing

971
00:52:27,280 --> 00:52:30,159
and playing guitar and I was editing some photos and

972
00:52:30,639 --> 00:52:32,480
we were both just kind of doing our thing and

973
00:52:32,519 --> 00:52:34,920
we weren't on a road trip. It was it was

974
00:52:34,960 --> 00:52:37,559
the first time we realized that, like this is our

975
00:52:37,639 --> 00:52:41,360
life and that we do make every decision together, kind

976
00:52:41,400 --> 00:52:43,039
of as he was advising us to.

977
00:52:43,000 --> 00:52:44,480
Speaker 5: Do, that we're always together, we.

978
00:52:44,480 --> 00:52:47,159
Speaker 6: Make every decision together, and and that we're not just

979
00:52:47,199 --> 00:52:49,199
on a road trip right now, like this is our

980
00:52:49,239 --> 00:52:51,960
current lifestyle and we're doing that together. And that was

981
00:52:51,960 --> 00:52:55,119
a really cool, really cool night because we both realized.

982
00:52:54,760 --> 00:52:56,000
Speaker 5: It and talked about it that night.

983
00:52:56,440 --> 00:52:59,079
Speaker 4: Yeah, those are always the like I remember when we

984
00:52:59,159 --> 00:53:02,599
had that same really we were at Lake Powell, and

985
00:53:02,639 --> 00:53:05,480
we just we had like the coolest camp spot and

986
00:53:05,559 --> 00:53:08,039
we opened up the doors and just looked out over

987
00:53:08,079 --> 00:53:11,400
the valley and there were like wild rabbits running everywhere,

988
00:53:11,440 --> 00:53:13,239
and we like poured a glass of wine and just

989
00:53:13,239 --> 00:53:15,039
sat there and we're like, oh my god, this is

990
00:53:15,079 --> 00:53:15,559
our life.

991
00:53:16,400 --> 00:53:18,960
Speaker 5: Yeah, like how cool is that?

992
00:53:19,039 --> 00:53:23,880
Speaker 4: You know, what's been your worst or scariest moment so far?

993
00:53:24,480 --> 00:53:25,639
Speaker 5: We haven't had too many.

994
00:53:25,719 --> 00:53:28,519
Speaker 6: Actually, someone asked us that the other day and we

995
00:53:28,960 --> 00:53:31,039
stumbled to answer it. I don't know if we've had

996
00:53:31,039 --> 00:53:34,159
a scary moment. I guess the scariest moment we've had

997
00:53:35,239 --> 00:53:38,920
was on the freeway, our brakes gave out. One of

998
00:53:38,920 --> 00:53:41,280
our break lines, sprung a leak, and all our break

999
00:53:41,320 --> 00:53:45,159
fluid just in one go just completely emptied out. So

1000
00:53:45,199 --> 00:53:46,400
we had to you know, we had to slam on

1001
00:53:46,400 --> 00:53:49,360
our brakes because of traffic, but it just gave out.

1002
00:53:49,400 --> 00:53:51,920
There was no resistance, no brakes were activated, and so

1003
00:53:52,000 --> 00:53:54,719
I had to swerve the van off into the.

1004
00:53:54,639 --> 00:53:56,880
Speaker 5: Shoulder like in the gravel and just let it kind

1005
00:53:56,880 --> 00:53:57,320
of roll.

1006
00:53:57,199 --> 00:54:00,440
Speaker 6: To a stop and then slowly limpar way to a

1007
00:54:00,480 --> 00:54:03,840
break shop where we stayed for four days.

1008
00:54:03,960 --> 00:54:04,199
Speaker 4: Was it?

1009
00:54:04,440 --> 00:54:06,639
Speaker 6: Yeah, we stayed for four days waiting for our break

1010
00:54:06,639 --> 00:54:10,239
lines to arrive, because apparently it's a rare part that

1011
00:54:10,679 --> 00:54:12,880
not a lot of people carry. So that was I mean,

1012
00:54:12,880 --> 00:54:16,239
that was a scary moment, kind of more in a

1013
00:54:16,239 --> 00:54:19,119
close call moment, not like a some dude trying to

1014
00:54:19,159 --> 00:54:22,719
kill us outside our van moment, but it's definitely scary

1015
00:54:22,760 --> 00:54:23,440
in its own way.

1016
00:54:23,639 --> 00:54:23,920
Speaker 9: I was.

1017
00:54:23,960 --> 00:54:24,480
Speaker 5: I was scared.

1018
00:54:24,519 --> 00:54:26,800
Speaker 6: At least my heart was pumping. That was probably our

1019
00:54:26,880 --> 00:54:30,320
least fun time of living in a van. Was we

1020
00:54:30,440 --> 00:54:33,000
lived at the mechanic shop for four days.

1021
00:54:33,320 --> 00:54:34,480
Speaker 5: Yeah, we definitely.

1022
00:54:34,119 --> 00:54:38,599
Speaker 6: Tapped out our movies and all our snacks and yeah,

1023
00:54:38,599 --> 00:54:40,039
it was it was a little rough weekend.

1024
00:54:40,639 --> 00:54:41,480
Speaker 4: It was really hot.

1025
00:54:41,599 --> 00:54:44,199
Speaker 6: Yeah, that was up in just outside of Park City

1026
00:54:44,199 --> 00:54:46,559
in Utah, and that was maybe a month ago.

1027
00:54:46,440 --> 00:54:49,400
Speaker 5: So it was middle of summer. It was it's pretty

1028
00:54:49,440 --> 00:54:51,000
spicy hot outside.

1029
00:54:51,599 --> 00:54:54,119
Speaker 4: Yeah, I was broke down in Las Crusis and that's

1030
00:54:54,119 --> 00:54:57,159
when we realized, like, oh, when your car breaks down

1031
00:54:57,199 --> 00:55:00,960
in your car is your home. You become homeless.

1032
00:55:02,559 --> 00:55:04,400
Speaker 6: Yeah, it's a little more rough than I think people

1033
00:55:05,039 --> 00:55:07,239
realize or would imagine it mean.

1034
00:55:09,559 --> 00:55:12,079
Speaker 4: So, what do you think has been your biggest life

1035
00:55:12,159 --> 00:55:13,480
lesson from your time on the road.

1036
00:55:14,880 --> 00:55:19,360
Speaker 11: I feel like for me, I thought I was really

1037
00:55:19,400 --> 00:55:23,000
open minded before, but I feel like as we travel

1038
00:55:23,119 --> 00:55:26,480
more and more, I feel like I've become more.

1039
00:55:26,280 --> 00:55:29,400
Speaker 8: And more open minded and more and more accepting.

1040
00:55:29,639 --> 00:55:30,920
Speaker 4: Yes, I don't know.

1041
00:55:30,960 --> 00:55:36,440
Speaker 11: Like people, we always like categorize people into different types

1042
00:55:36,519 --> 00:55:39,800
of people. I guess, like, you know, like van people

1043
00:55:39,840 --> 00:55:42,840
are like these hippies and they're bums and they're smelly

1044
00:55:42,920 --> 00:55:46,800
and whatever. But we're I mean, we're not, And.

1045
00:55:46,679 --> 00:55:47,480
Speaker 3: So I don't know.

1046
00:55:47,559 --> 00:55:51,440
Speaker 11: Like when you see and you recognize that people aren't

1047
00:55:52,039 --> 00:55:54,559
like us, for example, we're not what everybody thinks that

1048
00:55:54,559 --> 00:55:57,639
we are like, it makes you like you change your

1049
00:55:58,199 --> 00:56:00,800
ideas of other people too, if you're like, well, I'm

1050
00:56:00,800 --> 00:56:03,199
not like that, so that's probably like this idea I

1051
00:56:03,239 --> 00:56:05,960
have this type of person is probably.

1052
00:56:05,559 --> 00:56:06,480
Speaker 3: Not like that at all.

1053
00:56:07,320 --> 00:56:09,360
Speaker 8: So I don't know. I'm just I feel like I'm

1054
00:56:09,400 --> 00:56:10,719
more open minded for sure.

1055
00:56:11,320 --> 00:56:14,199
Speaker 6: I would say that for me, the biggest really like

1056
00:56:14,400 --> 00:56:18,360
life realization is that this and this sounds so cheesy

1057
00:56:18,440 --> 00:56:20,639
and corny, but if you have like a dream, go

1058
00:56:20,960 --> 00:56:23,440
live that dream like fulfill it, make it happen. And

1059
00:56:23,639 --> 00:56:25,400
even if it sounds funny, to live in a van

1060
00:56:25,480 --> 00:56:28,280
as a dream like a lot of people laugh at that,

1061
00:56:28,320 --> 00:56:30,599
but like that's a dream that we had, you know,

1062
00:56:30,639 --> 00:56:34,840
and we we made it happen. Like we started companies

1063
00:56:35,239 --> 00:56:38,159
so that we could fund our travels on the road,

1064
00:56:38,880 --> 00:56:42,159
and we started a year ahead and built them up.

1065
00:56:42,360 --> 00:56:42,519
Speaker 7: You know.

1066
00:56:42,599 --> 00:56:44,719
Speaker 6: Now we live on that and we we only work

1067
00:56:44,800 --> 00:56:46,800
one day a week. We still pay our taxes like

1068
00:56:46,840 --> 00:56:50,760
everybody else. We're not, you know, living off the system

1069
00:56:50,960 --> 00:56:53,880
or government cheese or anything. I don't know, cause a

1070
00:56:53,960 --> 00:56:56,039
year ago, you know, like I said, we were both

1071
00:56:56,079 --> 00:56:58,719
working full time. It didn't seem like there was any

1072
00:56:58,760 --> 00:57:00,679
other way. It was like, well, that's what you do.

1073
00:57:00,880 --> 00:57:02,800
That's what everyone does, because you have to pay for

1074
00:57:02,800 --> 00:57:04,960
where you're living, and you know, pay for your car

1075
00:57:05,000 --> 00:57:08,000
and pay for all this other stuff. And we've kind

1076
00:57:08,000 --> 00:57:11,199
of just made it happen to or we choose our

1077
00:57:11,239 --> 00:57:13,519
own schedule, we choose where we want to go. And

1078
00:57:13,880 --> 00:57:16,000
I think that's I don't know now, I'm just rambling

1079
00:57:16,000 --> 00:57:19,039
in circles, but I think the biggest life realization is

1080
00:57:19,079 --> 00:57:21,920
that your dreams are dreams for a reason, and when

1081
00:57:21,960 --> 00:57:24,159
you make them reality, that's happiness.

1082
00:57:24,480 --> 00:57:24,679
Speaker 8: Yeah.

1083
00:57:25,039 --> 00:57:28,760
Speaker 11: Joy, It's a lot more attainable than you would think

1084
00:57:28,800 --> 00:57:32,159
it is, or like when you're in it, you realize

1085
00:57:32,199 --> 00:57:33,880
you're like, oh my gosh, why didn't I do this

1086
00:57:34,079 --> 00:57:35,280
like years ago?

1087
00:57:35,320 --> 00:57:38,360
Speaker 8: It's so easy and I'm so much happier.

1088
00:57:38,760 --> 00:57:42,719
Speaker 6: Yeah, definitely moving forward. Whatever crazy idea that seems unattainable

1089
00:57:42,719 --> 00:57:42,960
that we.

1090
00:57:43,000 --> 00:57:44,320
Speaker 5: Have, we're just going to try it.

1091
00:57:44,679 --> 00:57:47,000
Speaker 6: Because if you fail, whatever, you know, you move on

1092
00:57:47,239 --> 00:57:50,559
or try it again or whatever. But if you get

1093
00:57:50,559 --> 00:57:52,840
what you're working at and you get like, you know,

1094
00:57:52,880 --> 00:57:54,679
the thing that you really want, or you're doing what

1095
00:57:54,719 --> 00:57:56,840
you really want to do, it's I.

1096
00:57:56,800 --> 00:57:58,840
Speaker 5: Don't know, I don't know if I've had happiness like

1097
00:57:58,880 --> 00:57:59,320
I do now.

1098
00:57:59,719 --> 00:58:02,639
Speaker 6: It's really nice to know that we're doing exactly what

1099
00:58:02,679 --> 00:58:04,519
we want to do when we want to do it.

1100
00:58:04,800 --> 00:58:07,360
Speaker 4: Yeah, there's something really pure about it, and I agree.

1101
00:58:07,400 --> 00:58:09,599
I like our time on the road was probably some

1102
00:58:09,639 --> 00:58:12,480
of the happiest time in my life, just because you're

1103
00:58:12,519 --> 00:58:15,039
living your life for yourself, like you're not worried about

1104
00:58:15,920 --> 00:58:21,159
doing things to placate other people exactly. So you're in

1105
00:58:21,239 --> 00:58:22,920
Denver now where next.

1106
00:58:23,920 --> 00:58:26,119
Speaker 5: Well, we'll be in Colorado a couple of weeks, is

1107
00:58:26,119 --> 00:58:28,239
that right? Yeah, probably a couple of weeks.

1108
00:58:28,800 --> 00:58:32,639
Speaker 6: So Giddy's jewelry business is called Carteo Handmade, and we

1109
00:58:32,679 --> 00:58:36,440
actually have a pretty big show that we're doing in Arizona.

1110
00:58:36,480 --> 00:58:39,880
We're part of like a big jewelry fashion expo that'll

1111
00:58:39,880 --> 00:58:43,280
be happening down there the first week of October, and

1112
00:58:43,320 --> 00:58:46,039
so we're gonna go down to Arizona a couple weeks

1113
00:58:46,039 --> 00:58:48,159
ahead of time, or maybe three weeks ahead of time

1114
00:58:48,159 --> 00:58:50,519
to kind of prepare for that and get a booth

1115
00:58:50,519 --> 00:58:53,239
assembled and inventory made for that show.

1116
00:58:53,360 --> 00:58:55,519
Speaker 5: So after probably the next couple weeks.

1117
00:58:55,239 --> 00:58:57,960
Speaker 6: We'll head down to Arizona and that's where we'll stay

1118
00:58:58,559 --> 00:59:01,079
for the remainder of the year. You know, the child

1119
00:59:01,159 --> 00:59:04,119
is born and we kind of rest and recuperate, and then.

1120
00:59:04,480 --> 00:59:05,320
Speaker 5: I don't know after that.

1121
00:59:05,480 --> 00:59:10,440
Speaker 6: We've talked about going south, but we might cruise the

1122
00:59:10,440 --> 00:59:12,760
east coast of the United States.

1123
00:59:15,079 --> 00:59:18,119
Speaker 4: How are you preparing or have you even gotten there

1124
00:59:18,159 --> 00:59:24,159
for doing this with a baby.

1125
00:59:24,320 --> 00:59:25,840
Speaker 5: We haven't really prepared much anything.

1126
00:59:27,119 --> 00:59:29,519
Speaker 6: We have ideas, like we're going to kind of change

1127
00:59:29,519 --> 00:59:32,360
our van layout a little bit to accommodate a third seat,

1128
00:59:32,599 --> 00:59:35,159
you know, that's safely and securely bolted in.

1129
00:59:35,880 --> 00:59:39,800
Speaker 5: And a crib area. We're kind of changing things around.

1130
00:59:39,840 --> 00:59:41,920
Speaker 6: That's another reason why we'll be in Arizona the rest

1131
00:59:41,920 --> 00:59:44,880
of the year, swapping things out, improving the van physically

1132
00:59:45,239 --> 00:59:47,239
as far as the layout and furniture and everything.

1133
00:59:47,840 --> 00:59:51,199
Speaker 5: As far as preparing ourselves, we haven't done that.

1134
00:59:51,280 --> 00:59:53,440
Speaker 6: We don't know where to be. We're kind of just

1135
00:59:53,480 --> 00:59:57,199
winging it now. We're excited, though, it'll be good. We're

1136
00:59:57,239 --> 01:00:00,280
just we're excited to raise a kid outside, raise a

1137
01:00:00,320 --> 01:00:02,280
kid out in the wild, and to kind of be

1138
01:00:02,360 --> 01:00:05,480
open minded and learn from travel and culture and people.

1139
01:00:16,480 --> 01:00:21,679
Speaker 7: I think I got inspired by the one hundredth anniversary

1140
01:00:21,840 --> 01:00:23,159
of the National Park Service.

1141
01:00:23,920 --> 01:00:26,119
Speaker 9: I love the National Parks and.

1142
01:00:26,800 --> 01:00:30,039
Speaker 7: Really wanted to explore more of them once I heard

1143
01:00:30,079 --> 01:00:34,039
about them having about four hundred and eleven sites where

1144
01:00:34,079 --> 01:00:35,079
I only thought there.

1145
01:00:34,960 --> 01:00:35,840
Speaker 9: Was fifty nine.

1146
01:00:36,159 --> 01:00:39,360
Speaker 7: So I really wanted to explore more of the American

1147
01:00:39,519 --> 01:00:43,400
culture and history as well as the nature. So I

1148
01:00:43,400 --> 01:00:47,920
think that's what got me started, and that's what helped

1149
01:00:47,960 --> 01:00:52,280
me decide to do one hundred National Park Service places,

1150
01:00:52,360 --> 01:00:55,760
and that led me to think that I should just

1151
01:00:55,800 --> 01:00:58,440
go ahead and try to hit all the states in

1152
01:00:58,519 --> 01:01:00,599
the continuous United States.

1153
01:01:01,119 --> 01:01:03,679
Speaker 4: This is Jennifer, who was based out of Fort Worth

1154
01:01:03,719 --> 01:01:06,239
and has spent the majority of her summer taking mini

1155
01:01:06,239 --> 01:01:09,480
trips throughout the state of Texas while getting ready to

1156
01:01:09,559 --> 01:01:13,079
embark on her cross country trip. We kind of did

1157
01:01:13,119 --> 01:01:15,079
it the other way around. We were more inspired by

1158
01:01:15,159 --> 01:01:18,840
checking out all the cities because I feel like as Americans,

1159
01:01:19,000 --> 01:01:21,599
you can only travel so much, and there's so many

1160
01:01:21,599 --> 01:01:24,360
places that you would never just take vacation to go to,

1161
01:01:24,679 --> 01:01:26,360
and so we were like, we need to check out

1162
01:01:26,519 --> 01:01:30,719
cities like Saint Louis or Memphis, places you wouldn't otherwise go.

1163
01:01:30,800 --> 01:01:34,239
And then obviously on the way we passed by tons

1164
01:01:34,280 --> 01:01:37,079
of national parks. But I thought was so cool. Was

1165
01:01:37,239 --> 01:01:40,800
just especially now and I don't like to get political,

1166
01:01:40,840 --> 01:01:44,119
but like the America I'm seeing on TV is not

1167
01:01:44,400 --> 01:01:46,519
the America we encountered out on the road.

1168
01:01:47,199 --> 01:01:47,960
Speaker 9: Oh so true.

1169
01:01:48,079 --> 01:01:51,199
Speaker 4: That was really inspiring to me, especially like two gay dudes,

1170
01:01:51,239 --> 01:01:55,239
like living in an RV in Mississippi, Like the idea

1171
01:01:55,280 --> 01:01:58,079
of how you would be perceived was so different than

1172
01:01:58,079 --> 01:01:59,920
how we actually interacted with people.

1173
01:02:00,360 --> 01:02:03,440
Speaker 7: Yeah, no, that's a great point. I think that I

1174
01:02:03,519 --> 01:02:06,920
do see travelist connection. You know, you really get that

1175
01:02:06,960 --> 01:02:10,599
deeper sense of who someone is that lives in a

1176
01:02:10,599 --> 01:02:14,400
different place than you. And also just pictures don't do

1177
01:02:15,280 --> 01:02:18,599
the places or the National Parks Justice. I think you're

1178
01:02:18,639 --> 01:02:24,000
such a deeper sense of place in meeting when you

1179
01:02:24,039 --> 01:02:25,079
go visit those places.

1180
01:02:25,519 --> 01:02:27,719
Speaker 9: So I totally agree with it.

1181
01:02:27,679 --> 01:02:31,360
Speaker 7: Being different than this kind of maybe almost surface level

1182
01:02:31,400 --> 01:02:36,440
conversation happening in the media, and just to get to

1183
01:02:36,559 --> 01:02:40,239
explore the depth, I'm so thankful for that. So you've

1184
01:02:40,280 --> 01:02:44,000
actually caught me kind of before my year of forty.

1185
01:02:43,760 --> 01:02:45,159
Speaker 9: Eight States starts.

1186
01:02:45,360 --> 01:02:50,159
Speaker 7: I will begin exploring other states starting in November. So

1187
01:02:50,639 --> 01:02:54,559
the past few months have been about Texas, just connecting

1188
01:02:54,599 --> 01:02:58,519
to Texas history and understanding my state better, because I

1189
01:02:58,559 --> 01:02:59,360
think that's so important.

1190
01:02:59,400 --> 01:03:01,719
Speaker 9: You know, tagline I.

1191
01:03:01,679 --> 01:03:04,599
Speaker 7: Guess is like broaden your backyard, and so starting with

1192
01:03:04,639 --> 01:03:08,440
where you're from and understanding the people around you better

1193
01:03:08,840 --> 01:03:14,840
I think is really really important. But yeah, ultimately I

1194
01:03:14,880 --> 01:03:20,519
have four trips, bigger road trips planned because obviously I

1195
01:03:20,519 --> 01:03:23,920
can't keep coming back to Texas every time. So one

1196
01:03:23,960 --> 01:03:27,360
of them is to the Southwest and doing the Four

1197
01:03:27,440 --> 01:03:31,760
Corners region, and then one is the Gulf Coast and

1198
01:03:31,800 --> 01:03:35,320
doing more of Texas to Florida and then up.

1199
01:03:35,360 --> 01:03:37,679
Speaker 9: To South Carolina and North Carolina.

1200
01:03:38,360 --> 01:03:44,639
Speaker 7: And then one is the Great Northern what I call it,

1201
01:03:45,199 --> 01:03:49,199
and it's twenty eight states in the summer, the whole summer.

1202
01:03:49,480 --> 01:03:52,440
It's basically this line across the country, going through the

1203
01:03:52,440 --> 01:03:55,719
middle of it horizontally, and I'm going to explore the

1204
01:03:56,199 --> 01:03:58,519
twenty eight above that line.

1205
01:03:58,800 --> 01:04:00,000
Speaker 4: What are you most excited about.

1206
01:04:01,280 --> 01:04:05,639
Speaker 7: There's this one place that I've really been fascinated by

1207
01:04:06,119 --> 01:04:08,440
in Oregon, and it's the Lewis and Clark.

1208
01:04:08,159 --> 01:04:09,440
Speaker 9: National Historic Site.

1209
01:04:09,559 --> 01:04:12,159
Speaker 7: I think I've always been kind of fascinated by their

1210
01:04:12,239 --> 01:04:19,960
journey and story about discovering America and well, not discovering America.

1211
01:04:19,599 --> 01:04:24,679
Speaker 9: But you know, like seeing going where maybe.

1212
01:04:24,440 --> 01:04:30,800
Speaker 7: Americans hadn't gone before. And I'm really fascinated by their journey.

1213
01:04:30,920 --> 01:04:34,679
And up in Oregon they have where they finished the

1214
01:04:35,039 --> 01:04:39,159
route they made it to the Pacific Ocean, and yeah,

1215
01:04:39,199 --> 01:04:42,559
I'm just really I'm really excited to go there and

1216
01:04:42,679 --> 01:04:46,000
learn more about their story and maybe even recreate some

1217
01:04:46,079 --> 01:04:46,719
of their route.

1218
01:04:47,039 --> 01:04:49,480
Speaker 9: Yeah, just seeing seeing that northern route.

1219
01:04:49,719 --> 01:04:53,039
Speaker 4: You know, when we're talking about our trip, like inevitably

1220
01:04:53,079 --> 01:04:55,639
there's someone who says I've always wanted to do that,

1221
01:04:56,599 --> 01:04:59,920
I think, just do it, because you know I had

1222
01:05:00,000 --> 01:05:01,920
I felt that way too, Like I had always wanted

1223
01:05:01,960 --> 01:05:03,840
to do it until I did it, and then when

1224
01:05:03,840 --> 01:05:05,559
I did it, I was like, God, this was so easy.

1225
01:05:05,760 --> 01:05:07,000
Did I do this years ago?

1226
01:05:07,360 --> 01:05:09,760
Speaker 7: No? I think there is that kind of mental barrier.

1227
01:05:10,239 --> 01:05:14,880
You're like, this is not done, and what am I doing?

1228
01:05:14,960 --> 01:05:17,760
If I go do this? You know, what does that

1229
01:05:17,800 --> 01:05:21,400
say about me and maybe my even my career aspirations

1230
01:05:21,480 --> 01:05:24,559
or that sort of thing. But I totally agree with you,

1231
01:05:24,760 --> 01:05:28,519
Just go do it. I think that you learn so

1232
01:05:28,719 --> 01:05:33,000
much about yourself and about other people and about the

1233
01:05:33,119 --> 01:05:36,599
environment and your surroundings that it definitely makes up for

1234
01:05:36,719 --> 01:05:41,960
any lost career benefits or you know that sort of thing.

1235
01:05:42,239 --> 01:05:44,880
Speaker 9: Obviously, being responsible.

1236
01:05:44,360 --> 01:05:49,440
Speaker 7: Is incredibly important, but I definitely benefit from exploring the

1237
01:05:49,559 --> 01:05:53,039
United States and learned so much more about history and

1238
01:05:53,400 --> 01:05:57,440
what it means to me to be an American that, yeah,

1239
01:05:57,719 --> 01:05:58,440
just go do it.

1240
01:05:58,679 --> 01:06:00,000
Speaker 9: I totally agree with you.

1241
01:06:00,159 --> 01:06:02,239
Speaker 4: It's funny, like I think, being a product of the

1242
01:06:02,280 --> 01:06:04,599
eighties and nineties, we were taught to kind of have

1243
01:06:04,679 --> 01:06:09,920
a singular vision of what success looked like, and I

1244
01:06:09,920 --> 01:06:14,039
think when we break from that because either we don't

1245
01:06:14,039 --> 01:06:16,360
fit into it or we want something different, we feel

1246
01:06:16,400 --> 01:06:17,159
really guilty.

1247
01:06:17,840 --> 01:06:18,360
Speaker 9: Yeah.

1248
01:06:18,559 --> 01:06:21,440
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, And that bums me out because I think

1249
01:06:21,480 --> 01:06:24,800
like success has many different looks, and to me, seeing

1250
01:06:24,880 --> 01:06:28,239
America and understanding like who Americans are and how you

1251
01:06:28,280 --> 01:06:31,880
fit into that picture is an equal achievement to like

1252
01:06:32,039 --> 01:06:35,199
calling yourself like senior manager at a bank.

1253
01:06:35,519 --> 01:06:36,800
Speaker 9: No, I completely agree.

1254
01:06:37,039 --> 01:06:41,440
Speaker 7: I think you know, both teach you different lessons about life.

1255
01:06:42,039 --> 01:06:46,760
It seems to me that traveling has bigger life lessons

1256
01:06:46,800 --> 01:06:52,519
surrounding values and these deeper places in self.

1257
01:06:52,960 --> 01:06:55,480
Speaker 9: I've had different jobs.

1258
01:06:56,599 --> 01:07:00,719
Speaker 7: Where I felt, yeah, more more like this is just

1259
01:07:00,800 --> 01:07:04,719
your task and that's what you complete, rather than using

1260
01:07:04,719 --> 01:07:09,360
this exploratory gift of curiosity that we have in finding

1261
01:07:09,519 --> 01:07:12,119
yourself and in.

1262
01:07:11,960 --> 01:07:14,519
Speaker 9: Finding what you get to what you can offer the world.

1263
01:07:15,239 --> 01:07:17,599
Speaker 7: I found that's kind of what travel has helped me

1264
01:07:17,719 --> 01:07:22,800
with is what is it about you that really can

1265
01:07:22,920 --> 01:07:24,000
connect to other people?

1266
01:07:24,480 --> 01:07:27,440
Speaker 9: And how do you want to kind of bring that out?

1267
01:07:27,920 --> 01:07:31,480
Speaker 4: And I almost wonder if that's what creates the RB

1268
01:07:31,599 --> 01:07:35,599
culture that we experience, which is when your life is

1269
01:07:35,639 --> 01:07:40,320
about traveling, you have a better appreciation for people and

1270
01:07:40,400 --> 01:07:44,000
you're able to look beyond like political or religious or

1271
01:07:44,440 --> 01:07:48,360
just you know, cultural views because you realize like that

1272
01:07:48,519 --> 01:07:51,760
was my biggest lesson was and I never felt that

1273
01:07:51,840 --> 01:07:54,920
I was this way, but I saw the world very

1274
01:07:54,960 --> 01:07:59,280
black and white before our trip, like Republicans or Democrats

1275
01:07:59,599 --> 01:08:02,639
or you know, like pro gay or anti gay, and

1276
01:08:02,679 --> 01:08:06,760
there was no room for flexibility in the middle for me. Yeah,

1277
01:08:06,800 --> 01:08:09,599
and I realized, maybe people disagree with me, and maybe

1278
01:08:09,639 --> 01:08:13,280
people disagree with me being gay, but that doesn't mean

1279
01:08:13,400 --> 01:08:16,319
like we can't find common ground. And I think on

1280
01:08:16,359 --> 01:08:19,520
the trip, I really learned to be like, you know,

1281
01:08:19,600 --> 01:08:21,960
like I never thought I would appreciate a small town

1282
01:08:22,399 --> 01:08:27,600
in Alabama. Yeah, yeah, and then you know, you get

1283
01:08:27,600 --> 01:08:31,159
there and you're like, like, small town USA isn't a

1284
01:08:31,239 --> 01:08:36,159
scary place, and it isn't unaccepting and it isn't not progressive.

1285
01:08:36,319 --> 01:08:38,800
Like you just learn to see the world in a

1286
01:08:38,840 --> 01:08:41,399
more dynamic way. I think can value people in a

1287
01:08:41,479 --> 01:08:42,199
very different way.

1288
01:08:43,680 --> 01:08:44,680
Speaker 9: Yeah, no, I agree.

1289
01:08:44,720 --> 01:08:49,600
Speaker 7: It's kind of like you see the multi dimensionality of people.

1290
01:08:51,079 --> 01:08:53,880
You know, you can disagree with them on something, but

1291
01:08:53,920 --> 01:08:58,560
then also really connect with them on something else, whereas

1292
01:08:58,600 --> 01:09:01,359
most of the time you may not have that opportunity.

1293
01:09:01,239 --> 01:09:03,840
Speaker 9: To get to know that something else that you.

1294
01:09:03,800 --> 01:09:06,039
Speaker 7: Connect on if you just kind of see how the

1295
01:09:06,079 --> 01:09:09,439
media portrays a certain aspect.

1296
01:09:09,880 --> 01:09:12,920
Speaker 9: So yeah, it's that depth.

1297
01:09:12,720 --> 01:09:18,520
Speaker 7: In recognizing that you're both experiencing human life, and you

1298
01:09:18,520 --> 01:09:24,640
can definitely connect on at least something, even if even

1299
01:09:24,680 --> 01:09:26,640
if your lives look completely different.

1300
01:09:30,479 --> 01:09:32,039
Speaker 4: When your trip is over. Do you think you'll go

1301
01:09:32,079 --> 01:09:32,880
back to Fort Worth.

1302
01:09:33,319 --> 01:09:34,119
Speaker 9: I don't think so.

1303
01:09:34,880 --> 01:09:40,640
Speaker 7: I think I will end up in Tennessee. The Appellations

1304
01:09:40,680 --> 01:09:44,479
are just probably my favorite area in the country. And

1305
01:09:44,520 --> 01:09:48,560
I'm actually back in Fort Worth just to take some classes.

1306
01:09:48,640 --> 01:09:49,600
Speaker 9: In graphic designs.

1307
01:09:49,720 --> 01:09:54,680
Speaker 7: So I'm hoping that I can use these new skills

1308
01:09:55,840 --> 01:10:00,840
and figure out how to translate them into living in Appalachia,

1309
01:10:00,880 --> 01:10:03,039
and Appalachia.

1310
01:10:03,039 --> 01:10:04,720
Speaker 9: I have to start saying correctly.

1311
01:10:07,520 --> 01:10:11,800
Speaker 7: So that's kind of my ultimate plan is to end

1312
01:10:11,880 --> 01:10:13,439
up in that region.

1313
01:10:13,880 --> 01:10:17,479
Speaker 4: Yeah, the only part of Tennessee at Palasia we saw

1314
01:10:17,760 --> 01:10:22,640
was Pigeon Forge. Just worried it is. It's so weird

1315
01:10:22,680 --> 01:10:25,640
because it's like the poor man's Las Vegas and the

1316
01:10:25,680 --> 01:10:26,720
Smoky Mountains.

1317
01:10:27,359 --> 01:10:28,880
Speaker 9: Oh my gosh, Pigeon Forge.

1318
01:10:28,920 --> 01:10:32,520
Speaker 7: I have the craziest experience there.

1319
01:10:32,119 --> 01:10:34,119
Speaker 9: We were driving.

1320
01:10:34,279 --> 01:10:37,039
Speaker 7: From the Great Smokies or yeah, the Great Smoky Mountains

1321
01:10:37,119 --> 01:10:40,960
National Park and driving to I think Knoxville and it's

1322
01:10:41,000 --> 01:10:44,359
on the way and we saw all the neon lights

1323
01:10:44,560 --> 01:10:46,399
and the sun was setting.

1324
01:10:46,640 --> 01:10:48,840
Speaker 9: And we were like where are we?

1325
01:10:50,359 --> 01:10:54,279
Speaker 7: I honestly thought there was only you know, these tiny

1326
01:10:54,439 --> 01:10:58,000
farming communities in that region.

1327
01:10:58,560 --> 01:11:02,800
Speaker 9: But Pigeon for was a wake up call. It was

1328
01:11:02,960 --> 01:11:04,359
just the Las Vegas of the.

1329
01:11:04,319 --> 01:11:10,199
Speaker 7: East, and I had no idea that that existed until

1330
01:11:10,239 --> 01:11:11,800
stumbling upon it.

1331
01:11:11,800 --> 01:11:14,479
Speaker 12: It's so off putting because you're driving through like some

1332
01:11:14,520 --> 01:11:17,640
of the most beautiful scenery in America and then you

1333
01:11:17,760 --> 01:11:22,159
like round a bend and it's just neon.

1334
01:11:21,920 --> 01:11:25,640
Speaker 4: Lights and like the tackiest architecture ever in a giant

1335
01:11:25,800 --> 01:11:30,000
cross like up on a mountain above. It was so weird.

1336
01:11:30,760 --> 01:11:34,159
Speaker 7: It is, and you kind of wonder, how how did

1337
01:11:34,159 --> 01:11:37,720
this pop up here? I mean I was confused. Yeah,

1338
01:11:37,760 --> 01:11:40,600
but I'm I'm still I still want to go to Dollywood.

1339
01:11:40,760 --> 01:11:44,319
You know, I have some curiosity now with this place

1340
01:11:44,439 --> 01:11:48,000
that that people talk about. So I'm definitely going to

1341
01:11:48,039 --> 01:11:50,119
have to head back to Pigeonforge and explore it a

1342
01:11:50,119 --> 01:11:52,560
little bit more because I was baffled.

1343
01:11:54,039 --> 01:11:56,720
Speaker 4: People always ask like, what's the scariest place we went,

1344
01:11:57,039 --> 01:11:59,560
and my boyfriend I disagree, But for me, it was

1345
01:11:59,600 --> 01:12:01,600
Pigeon Forge so far.

1346
01:12:02,720 --> 01:12:09,720
Speaker 9: That's amazing. Yeah, yeah, I mean it's so different, it's

1347
01:12:09,760 --> 01:12:10,520
so different.

1348
01:12:10,920 --> 01:12:13,840
Speaker 7: I think there was a state park in Alabama that

1349
01:12:14,680 --> 01:12:16,520
I felt like was the scariest place.

1350
01:12:16,840 --> 01:12:18,079
Speaker 9: I guess it was near Mobile.

1351
01:12:18,680 --> 01:12:20,720
Speaker 7: It was an off day, so just during the week

1352
01:12:21,119 --> 01:12:26,279
in September, my friend and I were camping and we

1353
01:12:27,840 --> 01:12:34,279
there was only two different campers, us and a ice

1354
01:12:34,359 --> 01:12:40,039
cream truck like legit, an ice cream truck that kind

1355
01:12:40,079 --> 01:12:43,920
of was an old ice cream truck but the paint

1356
01:12:43,920 --> 01:12:48,199
had faded and they were pulled into the parking spot

1357
01:12:48,279 --> 01:12:51,479
next to us, and they had a TV on in

1358
01:12:51,520 --> 01:12:54,000
the front seat where it was just black and white,

1359
01:12:54,199 --> 01:12:56,920
you know, the static, So nothing was actually on the TV,

1360
01:12:57,119 --> 01:13:01,359
but it was on and it was static, and we

1361
01:13:01,479 --> 01:13:05,960
never saw a person ever. It was just the ice

1362
01:13:06,000 --> 01:13:10,439
cream truck with the static TV. And I thought we

1363
01:13:10,439 --> 01:13:13,039
were going to die.

1364
01:13:13,920 --> 01:13:18,760
Speaker 9: Yeah, what was happening with that situation? Oh man?

1365
01:13:18,880 --> 01:13:22,159
Speaker 7: It was so scary. And what didn't help was when

1366
01:13:22,239 --> 01:13:27,439
the sun started setting, raccoons would come out and they

1367
01:13:27,439 --> 01:13:30,840
would be on their hind legs. And they probably were

1368
01:13:30,840 --> 01:13:33,880
not rabid, but that is the image that comes to

1369
01:13:33,960 --> 01:13:37,479
my mind when raccoons are walking towards you, just on

1370
01:13:37,479 --> 01:13:38,239
their back legs.

1371
01:13:39,439 --> 01:13:40,800
Speaker 9: Jesus, these rabbits.

1372
01:13:42,520 --> 01:13:42,800
Speaker 4: Food.

1373
01:13:43,520 --> 01:13:44,079
Speaker 9: Oh man.

1374
01:13:44,159 --> 01:13:46,520
Speaker 7: We got in the tent and just tried to tell

1375
01:13:46,560 --> 01:13:51,720
funny stories and like, yeah, we stayed, but man, that

1376
01:13:51,880 --> 01:13:55,520
was a scary could have been more scary, but it

1377
01:13:55,560 --> 01:13:57,199
was still a scary situation.

1378
01:13:57,600 --> 01:13:57,800
Speaker 3: Yeah.

1379
01:13:57,840 --> 01:14:00,199
Speaker 4: I feel like that's on part like the clown that

1380
01:14:00,279 --> 01:14:01,199
hang out in the woods.

1381
01:14:03,359 --> 01:14:06,079
Speaker 7: Yeah, I was. I was waiting for a clown to

1382
01:14:06,119 --> 01:14:08,720
pop out, for sure, and that would have been I'm

1383
01:14:08,760 --> 01:14:12,119
not even sure what we would have done, but yeah,

1384
01:14:12,279 --> 01:14:12,640
it was.

1385
01:14:13,239 --> 01:14:14,880
Speaker 9: It was scary. It was scary.

1386
01:14:15,000 --> 01:14:17,560
Speaker 7: It definitely seems like it was a scene out of

1387
01:14:17,560 --> 01:14:21,199
a horror film and that we just were not aware

1388
01:14:21,239 --> 01:14:22,039
of the plot line.

1389
01:14:25,319 --> 01:14:27,000
Speaker 9: But ultimately it missed mine.

1390
01:14:27,319 --> 01:14:30,760
Speaker 4: One of the coolest places we saw was in Alabama,

1391
01:14:30,960 --> 01:14:34,760
and it may not have any meaning too. Have you

1392
01:14:34,760 --> 01:14:40,359
seen the movie Big Fish? Yes, Okay, so outside of Montgomery,

1393
01:14:41,000 --> 01:14:47,119
that little town, okay, still exists untouched really Yeah, and

1394
01:14:47,159 --> 01:14:49,439
so you it's the strangest thing, like you have to

1395
01:14:49,600 --> 01:14:51,359
I had did a lot of research to find out.

1396
01:14:51,399 --> 01:14:54,119
You basically drive out of town and then you like

1397
01:14:54,199 --> 01:14:57,000
drive on a dirt road along the railroad tracks, and

1398
01:14:57,039 --> 01:15:00,319
then you cross a little bridge onto an island in

1399
01:15:00,399 --> 01:15:03,560
the Alabama River. Yeah, and then there's a gate and

1400
01:15:03,600 --> 01:15:06,199
you basically have to press a button, and then a

1401
01:15:06,319 --> 01:15:09,680
video camera comes on and watches you put five dollars

1402
01:15:09,720 --> 01:15:13,800
into like a change collection box. Okay, and then a

1403
01:15:13,960 --> 01:15:16,880
phone rigs and you answer the phone, and some man

1404
01:15:17,039 --> 01:15:19,840
just gives you a code which you then dial into

1405
01:15:20,159 --> 01:15:23,199
this gate. And then the gate slowly opens and you

1406
01:15:23,279 --> 01:15:27,399
drive like a mile out on this probably half a

1407
01:15:27,439 --> 01:15:31,199
mile like dirt road, further into the river, and then

1408
01:15:31,239 --> 01:15:34,520
you cross like another little bridge onto another little island.

1409
01:15:34,720 --> 01:15:37,359
And on this little island in the Alabama River is

1410
01:15:37,359 --> 01:15:40,880
the town from Big Fish. Oh my gosh, it is

1411
01:15:41,479 --> 01:15:43,560
the coolest thing. And there's like a herd of wild

1412
01:15:43,600 --> 01:15:47,399
goats wandering around. It's the coolest thing in the world.

1413
01:15:47,600 --> 01:15:49,279
Speaker 9: That sounds so cool.

1414
01:15:56,720 --> 01:16:00,199
Speaker 7: I think my ultimate goal with Tree of Travel is

1415
01:16:00,600 --> 01:16:04,439
just to get people out there and explore the country.

1416
01:16:04,600 --> 01:16:07,479
Speaker 9: And I think that, you know, this.

1417
01:16:07,560 --> 01:16:10,600
Speaker 7: Conversation that we've just had is one of the many

1418
01:16:10,640 --> 01:16:14,079
benefits that you get from traveling. You just get to

1419
01:16:14,119 --> 01:16:18,119
connect with other people who have seen cool things and

1420
01:16:18,319 --> 01:16:21,399
done cool things and gotten to share in that experience.

1421
01:16:21,720 --> 01:16:23,880
So not only do you get to connect with people

1422
01:16:23,880 --> 01:16:27,039
on the road, but you know, you have this bank

1423
01:16:27,159 --> 01:16:30,760
of stories and knowledge that you get to connect with.

1424
01:16:31,039 --> 01:16:33,720
Speaker 9: People forever after that.

1425
01:16:34,000 --> 01:16:36,680
Speaker 7: I think would be my ultimate push to get people

1426
01:16:36,680 --> 01:16:40,760
out there to see the states and yeah, explore, explore

1427
01:16:40,920 --> 01:16:43,079
the backyard that we get to call home.

1428
01:16:43,479 --> 01:16:45,560
Speaker 4: Yeah, no, I agree. I think there's so much of

1429
01:16:45,600 --> 01:16:49,199
America you don't get to see. And that sounds vague,

1430
01:16:49,239 --> 01:16:52,680
but in the sense of like roadside attraction culture and

1431
01:16:53,119 --> 01:16:55,960
state parks, or even just like small towns that are

1432
01:16:56,000 --> 01:16:59,239
really unique and really charming that you don't even know exists,

1433
01:16:59,239 --> 01:17:02,800
and you never would unless you live on the road.

1434
01:17:03,399 --> 01:17:07,479
Speaker 7: There's a kind of a cheesy song about that, where

1435
01:17:07,720 --> 01:17:12,520
it's just the flyover states, right, And there's so much

1436
01:17:12,600 --> 01:17:15,520
to the flyover states that I think.

1437
01:17:15,359 --> 01:17:18,760
Speaker 9: People they would love if they had the.

1438
01:17:18,840 --> 01:17:21,760
Speaker 7: Chance to kind of go explore them and figure out

1439
01:17:22,000 --> 01:17:26,720
more about America.

1440
01:17:26,840 --> 01:17:30,479
Speaker 9: There's such a freedom that comes with living on the road, and.

1441
01:17:30,439 --> 01:17:32,800
Speaker 4: It's dynamic, Like every day you're in a new place

1442
01:17:32,840 --> 01:17:36,399
and you're encountering new people and you just feel.

1443
01:17:36,199 --> 01:17:37,119
Speaker 5: Stagnant at all.

1444
01:17:37,159 --> 01:17:39,520
Speaker 4: You feel like every day your life is changing a

1445
01:17:39,560 --> 01:17:39,960
little bit.

1446
01:17:41,279 --> 01:17:44,720
Speaker 9: Yeah, that's true, and you can kind of like see it.

1447
01:17:44,880 --> 01:17:50,119
Speaker 7: I really enjoy writing journals when I'm traveling, just to

1448
01:17:50,239 --> 01:17:54,159
kind of reflect on where I'm at in both place

1449
01:17:54,399 --> 01:17:57,920
and mentally, and I feel like that's the coolest thing

1450
01:17:57,960 --> 01:18:00,319
about traveling is that you actually get to see that

1451
01:18:00,520 --> 01:18:04,319
progress that you're moving forward with your life. Things aren't

1452
01:18:04,319 --> 01:18:07,439
as important as they seemed, and other things become a

1453
01:18:07,520 --> 01:18:08,399
lot more important.

1454
01:18:08,760 --> 01:18:12,680
Speaker 4: What's so crazy to me is we our relationships sucked

1455
01:18:12,760 --> 01:18:15,199
before this trip, Like this trip was kind of like

1456
01:18:16,279 --> 01:18:19,640
we even had a conversation, like we need to decide

1457
01:18:19,720 --> 01:18:23,159
what happens after this trip because there's a good chance

1458
01:18:23,159 --> 01:18:25,159
we're going to break up before this trip is over.

1459
01:18:26,319 --> 01:18:30,760
And like being in a car with someone really changes

1460
01:18:30,800 --> 01:18:32,760
the way you relate to that person, like for a

1461
01:18:32,760 --> 01:18:35,520
prolonged period of time, obviously, because there's nowhere to run.

1462
01:18:36,720 --> 01:18:39,720
When you have an argument, you have to like sit in.

1463
01:18:39,600 --> 01:18:42,800
Speaker 9: That argument and have the conversation.

1464
01:18:43,079 --> 01:18:47,880
Speaker 4: Yeah, And like like we are communication skills improved so much.

1465
01:18:48,319 --> 01:18:51,560
Speaker 7: Like there's so many life lessons that are overlooked in

1466
01:18:51,680 --> 01:18:56,960
travel and just kind of touted as this like escape mechanism,

1467
01:18:57,079 --> 01:18:58,239
where that's.

1468
01:18:58,039 --> 01:18:58,960
Speaker 9: So not the case.

1469
01:18:59,279 --> 01:19:02,960
Speaker 7: You learn all of these really important life lessons like

1470
01:19:03,199 --> 01:19:07,640
taking action and asking for help. I think that's a

1471
01:19:07,680 --> 01:19:11,000
huge one too, where that's not really encouraged and you

1472
01:19:11,079 --> 01:19:14,199
have to ask for help because sometimes you have no

1473
01:19:14,279 --> 01:19:17,680
idea what to do, so that's the only way you

1474
01:19:17,720 --> 01:19:18,640
can move forward.

1475
01:19:19,520 --> 01:19:21,680
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think it teaches you a lot of humility

1476
01:19:21,840 --> 01:19:24,039
and it really kind of shows you your place in

1477
01:19:24,079 --> 01:19:27,199
the world, which is beforehand, I had like a great

1478
01:19:27,319 --> 01:19:29,079
career and I wasn't getting a lot of money, and

1479
01:19:29,119 --> 01:19:33,119
I think from that. I hate admitting this, but I

1480
01:19:33,159 --> 01:19:37,520
felt a little bit of not better than the no

1481
01:19:37,720 --> 01:19:40,359
I get that. Yeah, And I didn't realize it at

1482
01:19:40,359 --> 01:19:41,880
the time until I was on the road and it

1483
01:19:41,920 --> 01:19:45,159
was like, just because I had an important job doesn't

1484
01:19:45,319 --> 01:19:48,439
really mean shit. In the Grinski mosings.

1485
01:19:49,479 --> 01:19:51,920
Speaker 9: I think we're definitely taught that it does.

1486
01:19:52,439 --> 01:19:56,000
Speaker 7: Where jobs are kind of they define your worth as

1487
01:19:56,000 --> 01:20:01,720
a human rather than they just provide the necessary things

1488
01:20:01,760 --> 01:20:04,840
you need to survive. They're given a lot more meaning,

1489
01:20:05,319 --> 01:20:08,880
a lot of which I don't think is healthy because

1490
01:20:09,159 --> 01:20:13,159
it becomes like this hierarchy of value. Who is more

1491
01:20:13,239 --> 01:20:14,479
valuable And.

1492
01:20:14,479 --> 01:20:17,279
Speaker 4: I just think like, yeah, so if I make X

1493
01:20:17,319 --> 01:20:19,800
amount of dollars and you know, have this title on

1494
01:20:19,840 --> 01:20:22,359
my business card, Like I didn't know how to make

1495
01:20:22,399 --> 01:20:26,119
a fire. I had never been alone with my thoughts

1496
01:20:26,119 --> 01:20:28,439
for ten hours at a time like there's so many

1497
01:20:29,359 --> 01:20:31,359
things that just like it doesn't matter.

1498
01:20:32,399 --> 01:20:34,800
Speaker 7: I went to survival school in Utah and I had

1499
01:20:34,800 --> 01:20:37,079
to learn how to make fire from Styx and I

1500
01:20:37,279 --> 01:20:39,720
was so bad at it. I could not figure it out,

1501
01:20:39,800 --> 01:20:43,479
and everyone else had figured it out, and it was

1502
01:20:43,560 --> 01:20:46,359
so infuriating. I just wanted to quit, you know. I

1503
01:20:46,399 --> 01:20:48,760
was just like, this is not this is not something

1504
01:20:48,800 --> 01:20:50,239
that I need to know how to do.

1505
01:20:50,399 --> 01:20:50,560
Speaker 3: You know.

1506
01:20:50,600 --> 01:20:52,680
Speaker 9: I just had this like horrible attitude about it.

1507
01:20:52,840 --> 01:20:55,840
Speaker 7: But I realized that, you know, maybe this is the

1508
01:20:55,880 --> 01:20:58,520
most important thing I need to know how to do.

1509
01:20:59,800 --> 01:21:04,119
You know, hire is nature's gift and that we're able

1510
01:21:04,199 --> 01:21:04,920
to recreate it.

1511
01:21:05,000 --> 01:21:07,239
Speaker 9: I mean, come on, that's powerful stuff.

1512
01:21:12,920 --> 01:21:15,199
Speaker 4: Or on the flip side, like I learned to not

1513
01:21:15,279 --> 01:21:18,560
only appreciate but get excited about a four dollars bottle

1514
01:21:18,600 --> 01:21:20,399
of wine.

1515
01:21:21,039 --> 01:21:24,239
Speaker 9: Yes, that's exactly it. You get to like find the

1516
01:21:24,279 --> 01:21:25,680
things that are good for cheaper.

1517
01:21:30,159 --> 01:21:32,560
Speaker 4: Since it's been about six weeks since i'd talked to

1518
01:21:32,880 --> 01:21:35,520
Alex and Jason Giddey, I reached out to see what

1519
01:21:35,520 --> 01:21:37,760
they've been up to in the time since our conversation.

1520
01:21:39,239 --> 01:21:42,760
This is what Alex had to say since we last chatted.

1521
01:21:42,800 --> 01:21:45,520
I continued on my journey through the wild lands of Canada,

1522
01:21:45,840 --> 01:21:49,239
Land of the a I migrated down south to Colorado,

1523
01:21:49,279 --> 01:21:51,880
where I met my dad and grabbed my new loyal sidekick,

1524
01:21:52,319 --> 01:21:55,520
to Keitna, my two year old German shepherd. Now armed

1525
01:21:55,560 --> 01:21:57,720
with the best girl in the world, we headed back

1526
01:21:57,800 --> 01:22:01,079
up to Canada to explore Kutene and you National Parks.

1527
01:22:01,680 --> 01:22:04,279
The weather was holding out fantastically and while it was

1528
01:22:04,319 --> 01:22:06,279
getting cold at night during the day, we were able

1529
01:22:06,279 --> 01:22:09,399
to explore the wild and bast alpie of the parks.

1530
01:22:10,039 --> 01:22:12,800
Over the next few weeks, Tally and I migrated further south,

1531
01:22:13,119 --> 01:22:16,720
stopping at Hot Springs small towns New Denver is the

1532
01:22:16,800 --> 01:22:19,159
cutest town I've been to in a long time, and

1533
01:22:19,239 --> 01:22:22,279
meeting wonderful characters along the way. A little over a

1534
01:22:22,319 --> 01:22:24,159
month of being on the road together, life in the

1535
01:22:24,239 --> 01:22:27,359
van got a little difficult. The loneliness started to set in.

1536
01:22:27,880 --> 01:22:30,079
I wasn't connecting very well to myself or to what

1537
01:22:30,119 --> 01:22:32,760
this trip was about. I molded over for a few

1538
01:22:32,840 --> 01:22:35,359
days and tried to persevere, but eventually I ended up

1539
01:22:35,359 --> 01:22:37,640
heading to my parents' house for a little restart and

1540
01:22:37,720 --> 01:22:41,000
refresher I've been here for about a week now and

1541
01:22:41,079 --> 01:22:43,520
tomorrow me and Tally are headed down to ben to

1542
01:22:43,520 --> 01:22:47,479
go rock climbing with friends. Fallen Northwest has been amazing,

1543
01:22:47,520 --> 01:22:51,279
but looking forward, we're going to explore Utah, Arizona, and

1544
01:22:51,319 --> 01:22:55,760
southern California. I've never seen a landscape like the American Southwest,

1545
01:22:56,239 --> 01:22:59,039
huge red spires jutting towards the sky, or canyons that

1546
01:22:59,079 --> 01:23:01,720
you can't see the bottom of. Coming home was a

1547
01:23:01,760 --> 01:23:04,279
good choice, and asking for help was a better one.

1548
01:23:04,720 --> 01:23:07,199
Stopping and now restarting allowed me to come back to

1549
01:23:07,239 --> 01:23:11,640
the road with the fresh Head art and playlist. Jason

1550
01:23:11,680 --> 01:23:14,760
Giddey have experienced some even bigger changes. Here's what they

1551
01:23:14,840 --> 01:23:17,479
said after chatting with you in Denver. We stayed in

1552
01:23:17,520 --> 01:23:20,840
Colorado for a couple weeks. After leaving the Denver area,

1553
01:23:20,920 --> 01:23:23,359
we explored Garden of the Gods for a day before

1554
01:23:23,399 --> 01:23:27,039
heading more southwest. In Colorado, there's an interesting attraction a

1555
01:23:27,039 --> 01:23:30,760
few hours southwest of Denver. It's called Bishop Castle. You

1556
01:23:30,880 --> 01:23:33,600
have to look up all the details, but essentially mister

1557
01:23:33,640 --> 01:23:36,439
Bishop spent his life building his own castle by himself.

1558
01:23:36,840 --> 01:23:41,079
Its towers of windows, spiral stairs, a moat, and a drawbridge.

1559
01:23:41,520 --> 01:23:44,479
The real deal. It's pretty interesting. To say the least.

1560
01:23:44,640 --> 01:23:48,159
After Bishop Castle, we visited an awesome wolf rescue sanctuary

1561
01:23:48,239 --> 01:23:51,680
called Mission Wolf. It's a must do if you're visiting Colorado.

1562
01:23:51,840 --> 01:23:54,720
We loved it. We stayed a couple days camped out

1563
01:23:54,760 --> 01:23:58,119
right at the property. The staff is super friendly and welcoming.

1564
01:23:58,600 --> 01:24:00,680
You can camp right there or in one of their

1565
01:24:00,720 --> 01:24:03,960
many teepees on the property. The wolves are magical, really

1566
01:24:03,960 --> 01:24:06,720
awesome creatures. You get to see them on a tour,

1567
01:24:06,760 --> 01:24:09,159
and if you're lucky like we were on our visit there,

1568
01:24:09,199 --> 01:24:11,800
a few can actually meet and mingle with. At the

1569
01:24:11,840 --> 01:24:13,520
end of the day, you fall asleep to the sound

1570
01:24:13,560 --> 01:24:17,119
of the wolves howling. Following the Wolf sanctuary, stayed a

1571
01:24:17,159 --> 01:24:20,439
few days on our cousins farm. They grow several different

1572
01:24:20,439 --> 01:24:24,079
crops and have dogs, horses, cows, cats, chickens, et cetera.

1573
01:24:24,920 --> 01:24:29,119
We loved riding quads, exploring Indian ruins, learning about crops

1574
01:24:29,119 --> 01:24:32,439
and irrigation, and taking care of the chickens. Nothing beats

1575
01:24:32,479 --> 01:24:35,760
fresh farm food and seeing family if you haven't seen

1576
01:24:35,800 --> 01:24:39,319
them in years. It was awesome. We left Colorado and

1577
01:24:39,359 --> 01:24:41,760
made our way to Arizona. In preparation we're having our

1578
01:24:41,760 --> 01:24:45,000
baby girl. We've temporarily moved into a small apartment so

1579
01:24:45,039 --> 01:24:47,720
we have some more spacious, comfortable place to bring her

1580
01:24:47,760 --> 01:24:49,720
into the world. Our plan is to make a few

1581
01:24:49,800 --> 01:24:52,399
changes in the band to safely accommodate the baby girl

1582
01:24:52,520 --> 01:24:55,399
before hitting the road again. We planned to stick around

1583
01:24:55,399 --> 01:24:58,199
in Arizona and spend the holidays with family, and then

1584
01:24:58,239 --> 01:25:00,760
set out for a new journey on New Year's We're

1585
01:25:00,760 --> 01:25:03,680
stoked to get back on the road. You're right, the

1586
01:25:03,760 --> 01:25:06,479
transition has been rough. We miss waking up in a

1587
01:25:06,520 --> 01:25:07,479
new place every month.

1588
01:25:11,600 --> 01:25:13,079
Speaker 5: It's rock